12 Apr The Importance of Medical Staff Engagement

There are different opinions on how a hospital based radiology practice should be run or how a transition from one group to another should occur. However, in each of these situations, there is one common denominator. The hospital medical staff must be engaged in both situations in order to be successful.

Part 1 –

Let me first begin with how an existing group should run a hospital based radiology practice. From my perspective, there are 3 essential elements. First of all, the radiologist must participate in all medical staff meetings just as if they were an employee of the hospital. Quite frankly, there should never be a “Us and Them” mentality. Secondly, it must be the responsibility of the radiology group to build relationships with all the stakeholders (i.e. Emergency Department, Administrators, etc.). If you communicate regularly and ensure that you are meeting the evolving needs of your stakeholders, then you should have a happy customer. However, please notice my use of the the word, “Evolving”. Needs change and they often change rapidly. One of the biggest mistakes of incumbent groups, is assuming that they are meeting the needs of the hospital…needs that were established 5 years ago. The kind of complacency leads to groups losing their contracts. If this happens, they have no one to blame, but themselves.  Lastly, you must be able to meet more than just the needs of the emergency department.  This can be done by ensuring you can provide sub-specialty services such a ortho, neuro, mammo, nuc, etc.  If you can maximize the hospital referral base, imaging volumes will increase, thus making it a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Please stay tuned for Part 2 – Ensuring Medical Staff Engagement During a Transition.

Thank you,