Free-Standing Clinics: The Key to Affordable Diagnostic Imaging

The quest for affordable health care has grown to be more and more necessary for Americans in this time of health care reform, and it seems that patients are using more resources to discover the ways that they can save. You wouldn’t think that bargain shopping for medical would be well advised, but particularly in the diagnostic imaging and radiology fields, it has become protocol for many due to the high costs.  Due to high levels of uninsured individuals in America, and even the high out-of-pocket expenditures for insured patients, this concept of pricing transparency and price shopping for service, has grown into a rather hot topic in the medical world.

                 

Varying providers, from hospitals and free-standing clinics will agree that the prices patients pay for imaging services vary widely, depending upon where the services are performed.  It is not even debatable that thediagnostic scans are less expensive at independent clinics than they are at hospitals.  According to hospital officials, these price differences are a result of the hospitals needing to cover overhead costs associated with being open 24/7.   

One would assume that you are paying more for better quality, but in many instances, this is simply not the case.  The responsibility is now on the patient to research the best options for them, and it has become clear that the patients are catching on. These decisions should not be made solely based on price, but also on quality and convenience.  In most cases, these independent, free-standing diagnostic imaging centers will be the clear, best choice.

Quality Care & Pricing Transparency: Tools for Medical Success

For independent diagnostic imaging centers and radiology centers, the time has come in the game for you to pull ahead of the competition.  What is this advantage that local healthcare providers are going to have over hospital systems? It has nothing to do with the best practice management, return on investment or event revenue cycle management. It lies in the hands of three game-changing, delineating measurement points; the Patient Experience, Pricing Transparency and the Culture of Care. 

These three elements nod to the groundwork of what health care should represent, a focus on physicians providing quality care, building relationships with every patient, every time.  The Patient Experience is composed of the same measurement points that contribute to HCAHPS scores. (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey, standardized and developed to measure how patients perceive the service and care they receive in hospitals) Things like how well technicians and radiologists communicate with patients and their families, the responsiveness to patient needs, pain, medications and inquiries, and the overall atmosphere of the hospital, in addition to the overall patient perception of the health system all add up.  These concepts combined with a physician’s proven quest for wellness for his or her patients, makes up a Culture of Care. So how are independent physicians benefitting from this, you may ask? Simple. Due to the size of Hospital systems, they often miss the boat on quality care. They are constantly scrambling to focus on their HCAHPS scores and grades, needing to cut costs, and unfortunately forgetting that the Patient Experience is foremost, imperative in preserving the Culture of Care.  It is every hospital’s dream to be able to execute relations in this way, however their size makes this level of caring a daunting task. Independent radiologists are able to focus on providing more personalized services and thus truly foster those relationships.

        

Due to patients’ knowledge that they are in possession of the power due to value-based purchasing regulations, a new level of clinical standards have been set.  These standards have opened the doors for pricing transparency and the opportunity for patients to become more knowledgeable of what they are truly paying for in the health care world.  This means good things for independent physicians, because patients will realize from their research that comparing independent practices to hospital systems is like comparing apples to oranges.  Physicians in every sector of health care are speaking in hushed tones about the concept of self-pay, which used to mean higher costs and more complications for both patients and physicians. This new era in Health Care Reform and pricing transparency means an opportunity for all physicians, especially radiologists, to target patients, insured or uninsured, in reference to personalized, affordable service and quality care, things that hospital systems simply are not prepared to provide.

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Goodbye to Summer, Start Collecting on Medical Billing

As a child, I waited the entire year for summer.  I remember summer’s care free days that nudged on boredom.  Unfortunately by August, I usually became anxious awaiting for school to begin.  With the start of school came anticipated opportunities.  It usually didn’t take long before I once again started my longing for summer.

I guess some things never change.  This summer exhibited a Hurricane, a terrible economy, and an even worse void of leadership by our government.  Certainly, I should be happy that summer is passing.  Maybe the rest of the year will be better!

Against my better judgement honed by decades of passing summers, I am excited by the future.  Some good things happened over the summer.  I took the slow business season to assess our personnel and strategic direction.  I took time to assess where we have failed and acknowledged our many successes.  And just like the start of school, I know there is still a lot of work ahead.

Soon, I am pretty sure I will be longing for summer to return.