The Crucial Role of IT Infrastructure in Radiology Group Operations

What should other radiologists understand, and what should healthcare IT leaders understand, about what’s necessary to truly leverage information technology in the radiology area, going forward, especially during a time when radiologists are under more and more intense pressure to turn around their reports as quickly as possible to referring physicians?

I think that creating that basic backbone structure, putting that infrastructure in, is most important. And every practice is different; and it’s a very complex process, and one that each organization has to take on itself, but at the end of the day, the payment issue will go away, and what will remain is that you as a healthcare provider will have to develop a way to practice that’s electronic. And if you don’t do this, the government will say, you’re slowing down healthcare delivery, and we’re going to reduce your reimbursement as a result. So the message is, the time is now, and it’s later than you think. You had stated that the radiologists are frustrated because everyone wants everything now. But if they think they’re frustrated now, just wait until the patients want their information right away, and their radiologist can’t provide it. So the whole industry is changing, and everything will be run through electronic information systems; and if radiologists are not in play, they’re not moving with the flow, they’ll be left behind.