As the CIO of Radiology at MEDNAX and vRad, I cannot help but reflect on the history of imaging informatics – and look ahead to the future innovations that emerging technology will bring.

Radiologists must design protocols that enable clinical partners to achieve stroke certification. Medicine is at the forefront of a revolution in stroke diagnosis and treatment, as my colleague Dr. Dym elucidated in 2018. 

Effective collaboration with your referring physicians can make the difference between getting paid or not getting paid. Cooperation between referring and ordering professionals becomes increasingly important with the approaching implementation date for the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, on January 1, 2020. 

Today we have the capability—unparalleled in human history—to compile enormous amounts of information, then apply sophisticated analytic tools and artificial intelligence to help solve patients’ most vexing difficulties. Managing big data is essential to building specialized centers of excellence, and diagnostic imaging is a vital part of their success.

Patient expectations have changed. Rising healthcare costs are driving patients to demand more information when confronted with a medical issue, and technology is empowering them with access to that information. Today, radiologists are much more likely to interact directly with patients, where previously clinicians mediated imaging reports.

Picture this: someone on your team has gone the “extra mile” only to have those solid efforts backfire so far and so hard that now not just your team will suffer, but your company may miss earnings goals and lose gains made in the marketplace for at least a year.^[1]

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability in the world, killing 17.7 million people a year.  That's a third of all deaths on the planet and half of all non-communicable-disease-related deaths. Cardiac imaging and vascular imaging are critical in foreseeing an event before it happens.

Key Strategies to Drive Success in Your Practice—View On-Demand the MEDNAX Radiology Leadership Discussion.

“Knowledge is power.” This maxim is as true today as when Francis Bacon first uttered it some 400 years ago.

With the transition from year one (2017) to year two (2018) in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), there are several noteworthy changes to the program: