Why Radiologists Need More Business Training

It’s safe to say there are a lot of disruptions going on in healthcare—and for radiology in particular.

Rising costs, regulatory challenges, advancing technology, business consolidations, and a shift to value-based care have all created significant challenges. Not to mention the entire year of 2020, when many radiology departments saw falling revenue and service interruptions.

More than ever, it’s crucial for radiologists to better understand the business side of their practice.

Unfortunately, that training can be hard to come by.

A team of authors, led by Keval D. Parikh, MD, MHA, a resident in diagnostic radiology at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, recently addressed this issue in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

In “A Foundational Guide to Understanding Radiology Department Business Operations for Trainees,” the authors examine a common complaint among radiology leaders: that new practitioners don’t really understand the economics of their specialty.

The authors note that a hospital-based radiology department’s financial strength has a big impact on the hospital—not to mention the broader community.

Because of this, radiology residents and fellows need to understand how the department works financially, and how to demonstrate its value.

For example, they note, the radiology report is central to reimbursement.

Additionally, as healthcare moves to value-based models, participating radiologists need to help manage healthcare resources, including the use of imaging.

The authors suggest this may happen by:

• Radiologists participating in rounds with other clinicians
• Radiologists interacting more with patients
• Discouraging unnecessary imaging studies
• Possibly reimbursing radiologists for “non-interpretive consulting duties”

An efficient workflow will also help your radiology department demonstrate value. Novarad’s Ncompass Enterprise Imaging simplifies and centralizes your radiology services to reduce inefficiencies and costs.

Get in touch with us if you’re curious about how you can upgrade your workflow to impact your practice’s value.