Do You Know Your Competition?

One of the struggles that our clients are constantly facing as independent diagnostic imaging facilities is getting the upper-hand on the competition in their area.  It is often challenging to combat against a giant hospital system or facility that has been in place for years, it is even harder when you are newer to the area.  The important thing to keep in mind is that while they have certain strengths, they also have their weaknesses, which are undoubtedly areas that we can capitalize on.  The intrinsic differences can be anything from the varied feelings patients get when they walk into your center versus the competition to pricing to the friendliness and accessibility of your staff, techs and radiologists.

        

There are many ways to interpret these differences.  However when implementing a competition analysis it is best to perform a SWOT analysis and PEST analysis.  A SWOT Analysis examines the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of your facility in comparison to your competition.  On the other hand, a PEST Analysis examines the characteristics of a specific market by looking at the Political, Economical, Social and Technological aspects of the area.

By sitting down and really getting to know your competition, you will find the best way to beat them.  When it comes to diagnostic imaging, think about the magnet that your competition uses; it’s strength and manufacturer, additional modalities they might have, their hours of operation, their staff; including sales people, radiologists and technologists, cash pay options and pricing, their limitations and the advantages you have over those limitations.  By following these analysis templates and getting to know your competition, you will have the tools necessary to succeed in your market and shut out the competition.

Attention: Medical Techies of the Future

There is no doubt that in our technology driven society, our access to things like social media and advanced tech-toys, have drastically changed the ways in which we operate on a daily basis.  Things like video chatting, GPS and 3-D televisions have proven that George Lucas wasn’t far off base when he created Star Wars.  It’s only a matter of time until we all have robots as pets and holograph communication devices, and as mildly disturbing as it is that we are inching closer and closer to living out scenes from iRobot, the technology advancements in the medical world seem to be the saving grace, in some ways. 

     

   With more focus on the patient’s involvement in their own care process, many online sources have popped up, resulting in medical innovations that place more responsibility on the patients’ shoulders.  This freedom and opportunity has opened patients’ eyes to the price-sensitive market, and allowed them to learn more about the health care they are receiving.  This has increased price shopping in health care and also knowledge of the market.  However, the involvement of social media and technologies that allow physicians to collaborate directly with patients remotely has also increased the responsibility of the physicians to provide more quality and accessible attention to their patients.  With means of providing attention and information quickly and easily through these technologies, physicians are now able to tend to patients near and far, especially in rural or remote communities.

Now, since individuals are searching for ways to acquire affordable health care services, the concept of utilizing avatars, or 3-D characters online or in video games, on websites like Second Life has become increasingly popular.  These sites are not meant to replace health services, but rather to serve as a chat room type of setting it seems, however it also seems that the price of such attention is directly reflective of the level of quality and service. In a sense, you pay for what you get.  While websites like Twitter, Facebook and blogs have enabled patients to open their eyes to medical knowledge, it seems that the concept of having avatars or patients and physicians interacting like a video game may be taking it a step too far. 

       

On the other hand, we have websites like the recently created, Save On Medical, which allows patients to search by the service they require then learn about their options, and make decisions based on quality, convenience and price.  By providing patients with options, they are able to learn more about the procedures they are receiving, thus enhancing their experience and fostering a knowledge-driven health care society.

     

These technologies are going to be a great source for health care changes, now and in our near future, however it will be necessary on the physicians’’ part to ensure that we are not missing out on the most important part of health care, that whole portion about “care.” That idea of personalized service cannot go away, and the key to optimizing this opportunity will be for independent facilities to work both angles of care and technology.

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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