During my years of radiology management, I have learned that it takes a good working relationship between the manager/director and radiologist to make an operation work efficiently. Here are eight items I believe are beneficial for a radiologist to know.
1. Standardize. Standardization helps eliminate medical errors and standardization of medical supplies reduces inventory.
2. Support productivity. Productivity has become the buzz word in today’s business world and is important to a successful operation. The challenge for managers/directors is to match imaging volume with labor hours worked. Flexing down technical staff during slow times affects their finances and they may want to air their concerns to you.
3. Success takes a collaborative effort. Everyone gets busy during the day and week. Let’s make sure we make time to discuss items that affect business operations. Not one of us is as smart as all of us.
4. Support marketing efforts. As you know, referrals are all about relationships. When requested, make time to attend luncheons at referring physician offices to talk about your expertise and what differentiates you from the competition. You may not always see grand results, but as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
5. Bill for everything you do. In an era of declining reimbursement, it’s critical that radiology reports describe every detail of the procedure that was done so reimbursement can be maximized for both you and the facility.
6. Accept benchmarking. Benchmarking helps the facility stay competitive. Use benchmarking to drive operational and clinical decisions. There are plenty of companies that provide benchmarking data and analytics tools.
7. Help with staff engagement. Staff engagement is very important to the success of any company. An engaged staff increases retention of front-line employees and that results in better customer service. Staff that feel good about themselves produce good results by doing the right things. Not only is replacing staff expensive, it also disrupts continuity of care. Referring physicians and their office staff like consistency with their referrals. They don’t want to be routinely dealing with different staff. Also, a consistent staff makes your work easier.
8. Welcome surveys and inspections with open arms. Surveys and inspections provide a second set of eyes to ensure we are providing a safe environment for patients and staff. Follow the standards I provide you from the Joint Commission, state and federal agencies. If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.
