Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

8:00 AM- 9:30 AM
Breakout Sessions

Budgeting for the Radiology Administrator


Penny Olivi, CRA, MBA, RT(R)
University of Maryland Medical Center
Baltimore, MD

In this session, we will discuss all phases of budget preparation and various types of budget reporting, including some hands-on analysis of budget variance. The focus will be on hospital radiology operating budgets, as opposed to small business budget preparation, analysis and reporting. The goal will be to present concepts that allow the course participants to take back information to use in improving the various types of budgeting processes that are organization-specific.

You will learn to:

• Think through important aspects of budget planning and preparation.
• Build budgets from zero, create budgets from history, and understand the pros and cons of each approach.
• Read variance reports and create your own budget reports and quality monitors.
• Take this generic budget planning and preparation information to improve how you do budgeting in your organization.

MRI Suite Safety Challenges, Including Seamless Upgrades from 1.5 to 3.0 Tesla


Robert Junk, AIA
Junk Architects, PC
Kansas City, MO

Tobias Gilk, MArch
Junk Architects, PC
Kansas City, MO

This session generously sponsored by Ansul Incorporated and Mednovus.
This session repeated on Wednesday.

In this session the speakers will review general MRI suite safety design principles and explore the new twists introduced by the increasing use of stronger (3.0 Tesla) magnets, which will aid facilities in adopting the more powerful systems. In addition to safety, this session will address magnetic contamination and the planning, operational and financial consequences of poorly planned and built MRI suites.

You will learn to:

• Understand the new safety concerns growing with the popularity of 3.0 Tesla MRI.
• Explore the trend and consequences of office-based extremity systems.
• Avoid and remediate magnetic contamination in your magnet room.

2005 Nuclear Medicine Coding and Payment for Hospitals and Imaging Centers


Denise A. Merlino, MBA, FSNMTS, CNMT
Merlino Healthcare Consulting Corp.
Stoneham, MA

This session generously sponsored by Merlino Healthcare Consulting Corp.

This program will focus on nuclear medicine coding and Medicare payments for hospitals and imaging centers. Many changes for coding nuclear medicine procedures and radiopharmaceuticals occur in 2005. This session will cover general nuclear medicine, nuclear cardiology, PET and nuclear medicine therapies. This session will focus on the 2005 changes as well as other top coding and reimbursement tips, including issues facing administrators responsible for the nuclear medicine specialty.

You will learn to:

• Appropriately utilize the new and revised 2005 CPT®, HCPCS and hospital revenue codes important for nuclear medicine.
• Learn where to find the correct authoritative information important for your nuclear medicine practice.
• Learn practical actions to stay current with nuclear medicine coding changes.

A Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) Update and Avoiding Inspection Violations


Bonnie Rush, RT(R)(M)(QM)
BIS - Breast Imaging Specialists
San Diego, CA

All imaging providers face the constant challenge of remaining up-to-date on the latest FDA “version” of one of the most highly regulated of all imaging modalities - mammography. What may have been accepted by one inspector is a cause for a violation by another. Take this opportunity to hone your knowledge as well as gather resources that will allow you to take control of this regulatory process.

You will learn to:

• Implement a practical approach to regulatory compliance.
• Gain access to regulatory updates.
• Avoid common violations.
• Take control of the inspection process.

Leadership and Whole Body Communication


Natalie R. Manor
Natalie Manor & Associates
Merrimack, NH

Become the most impressive person you know. All interactions within your life and business require you to know how to present your ideas and how to see your services and/or products. Why should others listen to you? Why should people do business with you? Each time you speak, you establish a basis of how effective you are. What matters most to you and to your clients is how well you do it. Learn how well they understand the value of what you are offering. The demands of leadership today are many and one of them is to be an effective, impressive communicator and presenter. Whole body communication (WBC) is more than presentation skills and public speaking. Effective communication is expected at staff meetings, in hallway meetings, through e-mail and from the podium. Create a lasting impression of effectiveness and confidence by using your natural behavioral style to help you be powerful in any business situation. Learn the techniques and tips of the most impressive people you know – the ones that leave a lasting impression.

You will learn to:

• Define the 4 major behavioral styles that are core to leadership and communication and how to recognize and influence them.
• Utilize the 7 best techniques for preparing for effective communication, whether in a public meeting or one-on-one interactions.
• Eliminate preoccupations for effective communication.
• Utilize 5 easy ways to create rapport with anyone wit whom you come in contact.

The Key to Strategic Growth: Research and Strategy


Elsa Ozuna-Richards, MSA, CMPE
REA Healthcare Strategies, Inc.
Reno, NV

Erica Olsen, MBA
M3 Planning
Reno, NV

This session generously sponsored by REA Healthcare Strategies, Inc.
This session repeated on Wednesday.

This session is designed to demonstrate how to strategically grow your practice through understanding your market and developing a strategic plan to reach it. Participants will discover how market research can identify areas in the practice that need improvement as well as opportunities to grow the practice. With market research as the foundation, participants will explore a one-day strategic planning process. A strategic plan is the most reliable way to work towards real, sustained growth. It allows you to drive your business instead of your business driving you.

You will learn to:

• Evaluate the marketing climate through effective market research: Conducting a market assessment to identify key market segments, understand market demographics, evaluate key competitors and identify customers’ service expectations.
• Develop a basic strategic plan for your practice through 10 practical steps.
• Utilize tools and techniques that will assist in effective, practical strategic planning.

9:45 AM- 11:00 AM
General Session and Keynote

Nobody Moved Your Cheese!


Ross Shafer

In this hilarious and motivational program, Ross Shafer demonstrates why he doesn't think your cheese can be moved. Your "cheese" is the fuel that nourishes your passion and cannot be moved. He is a fierce proponent of taking responsibility for what happens in your life - and being accountable for the outcome. By using examples from his careers in show business, as an HR training film producer, and as a Corporate Speaker, Ross can prove how believing in (and using) your unique talents will encourage people to stop making excuses for their failures and start celebrating their successes.

You will learn to:

• Take responsibility for your success and guarantee a long-term career.
• Stay focused and pay attention to the detail in a world of distractions.
• Get your customers/clients to accelerate your career for you.
• Exploit other people's talents for their benefit so you can win, too.
• Combine your avocation with your vocation to energize your professional and personal life.

2:30 PM- 5:30 PM
Expanded Sessions

AHRA Writer’s Workshop


Roger Rhodes, CRA, FAHRA
Covenant Healthcare
Milwaukee, WI

Kathleen E. Delaney
American Healthcare Radiology Administrators
Sudbury, MA

This session is an expanded version of the popular AHRA Writer’s Workshop held at previous annual meetings. This session will assist potential authors for AHRA’s publications, Radiology Management and Link, in preparing a manuscript for publication. As opposed to previous “how-to” sessions, in this session, attendees will individually complete an outline and begin manuscript development on a radiology management topic of their choice. The AHRA publications editor, editor-in-chief of Radiology Management and members of the Editorial Review Board will assist attendees in manuscript development and submission.

You will learn to:

• Draw on your experience as a radiology administrator and complete a manuscript for publication in Radiology Management or Link.
• Complete an outline for your individual manuscript.
• Begin your manuscript and agree to a completion deadline.
• Understand AHRA’s guidelines for manuscript submission.

JCAHO 2005-2006 Update for Hospital Imaging Departments


Judith M. Atkins, RN, MSN
McKenna & Associates
Charleston, WV

This session is designed to provide information on the JCAHO 2006 standards. This is the biggest change in standards since 1995. The speaker will inform you of the new Priority Focus Process and implications for hospital-sponsored imaging centers.

You will learn to:

• Describe the new survey activities for the 2006 JCAHO standards.
• List two questions your staff are likely to be asked during a survey.
• State two strategies to be compliant with the 2006 standards.
• List the two most common non-compliant standards for ambulatory in 2005.

2:30 PM- 3:30 PM
Breakout Sessions

CR & DR - Working Together in One Department


David Piazzo, BSHA, RT(R)
Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center
Brighton, MA

CR and DR are both powerful diagnostic tools, but what happens when you try to integrate both in one department? Often there are dramatic differences in the image quality, density, and resolution of these 2 modalities. These differences can have everyone in your department pointing fingers at each other. Radiologists, technologists, your PACS vendor, and your laser printer vendor all need to work together to solve these issues. The goal of this session is to enable you to have any exam done on either system appear as though they were done on the same system.

You will learn to:

• Define the origin of your CR/DR problems to identify your action plan.
• Change algorithms in both CR and DR modalities so they more closely match each other.
• Get your printer systems and PACS system to handle data from both CR and DR in a way that allows output from both to be a standard product.

Advanced Sales Effectiveness


Deborah Mourey, BA, MS
IDE Radiology a Subsidiary of Radiologix, Inc.
Rochester, NY

Bob Gidley, BS
IDE Radiology a Subsidiary of Radiologix, Inc.
Baltimore, MD

This session will help the non-sales professional manage their sales force to drive profitable revenue. The speakers will help attendees to understand the importance of the relationship between operations and sales, the elements of an effective sales call  (to the referring clinician), how to select appropriate sales targets, creating a sales plan, managing complaints to retain customers (both physicians and patients), and compensating sales people.  Topics that will be covered include targeting customers (both physicians and patients), measuring sales effectiveness, compensation methodology, creating a value-added sales tool kit and helping your sales professionals grow.

You will learn to:

• Identify sales targets.
• Increase effectiveness of sales professionals through monitoring and accountability.
• Understand alternatives for compensating sales professionals.
• Create a winning sales plan.

PACS: It’s Not What it Used to Be


Stuart Gardner
SG & A Consulting, Inc.
Arlington, TX

This session generously sponsored by SG & A Consulting, Inc.

This session covers the evolvement of PACS over the past 7-10 years with a focus on the changing requirements. PACS today is no longer an application just for radiology and cardiology. Because of its impact on IT, the deployment of PACS must now take into consideration the impact it will have on many other strategic initiatives within an organization.

You will learn to:

• Develop a better understanding of a much larger picture of the role of PACS.
• Develop a more fundamental approach to upgrading existing PACS environments.
• Have a more thorough understanding of considerations to strategic enterprise-wide initiatives with regard to integration issues in the case of new deployments.
• Understand vendor selection requirements with regard to enterprise considerations.
• Define issues to consider regarding the overall project management activities during deployment and acceptance testing.

Imaging Centers: Creating an Effective Compliance Program


Maureen E. Brooks, CPC, CHC
MEMRAD Medical Group
Long Beach, CA

This session generously sponsored by MEMRAD Medical Group.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has identified certain radiology areas as having a potential for exposure to fraud and abuse of government programs. This session will review the Fraud Awareness Guidelines for Imaging Centers. You will be able to navigate through the federal regulations and identify the rules that apply to Independent Diagnostic Testing Facilities (IDTFs).

You will learn to:

• Distinguish between an IDTF and an imaging center.
• Turn your compliance program into a revenue management program.
• Identify when orders do not meet medical necessity criteria.
• Use Advanced Beneficiary Notices (ABNs) and obtain authorizations before you render a service.

My Job is Great...Except for the People

Richard A. Lewis, CRA
Florida Radiology Imaging, LLC
Maitland, FL

Because of the “numbers and results” driven nature of our various positions, we sometimes forget that our business is people-focused and people-driven. As management styles evolve and new, diverse personalities come into the workforce, we all need to be refreshed on the practical dos and don’ts of effective personnel management. Using a historical approach, we will see how your people skills truly affect the success of your facility.

You will learn to:

• Read when your message is not being delivered in the most effective manner.
• Incorporate good people skills into the management of your vision.
• Decide when it is appropriate to say goodbye to “Mr. Nice Guy.”

Data Migration: Optimizing Image Data Use to Improve Clinical Workflows


Hal Gilreath, MS
Technology Solutions Company (TSC)
Jacksonville, FL

Gary Nicolas
Technology Solutions Company, Chicago, IL

This session generously sponsored by Technology Solutions Company (TSC).
This session repeated on Wednesday.

Efficient and cost-effective data migration continues to be a key factor in optimizing enterprise image data availability to improve clinical workflows. Clinicians use digital images from multiple sources to complete a broader array of encounters, driving the volume and distribution of images exponentially higher. Organizations must provide seamless and on-demand access to the right image, to the right location, to the right clinician. These workflow requirements exceed the capabilities of many legacy image archives requiring healthcare organizations to migrate data to centralized, high-performance archives. However, image migrations are not simple data transfers and organizations face many challenges to optimize migrations and eliminate clinical workflow limitations. This session will describe a comprehensive approach to data migration to improve clinical workflows with access to image data.

You will learn to:

• Identify key operational and financial metrics that alert organizations to the need to migrate to an enterprise archive.
• Understand data migration drivers and benefits.
• Define data migration approaches, tools and processes.

4:00 PM- 5:30 PM
Breakout Sessions

Increasing Revenue: 8 Systems You Can Take to the Bank


Robert S. Bridwell, MD, MBA
Integrated Medical Solutions, LLC
Alexandria, VA

Donna Bernstein
Integrated Medical Solutions, LLC
Alexandria, VA

This session generously sponsored by Integrated Medical Solutions, LLC.

When it comes to creating revenue, what’s needed is not more abstract analysis but practical, easy to implement actions.  This session will demonstrate a ‘tried and true’, common sense, ‘integrated’ approach to revenue enhancement designed to analyze and optimize clinical, operations and marketing systems. The speakers will discuss and share many strategies, techniques and tools to overcome barriers to growth, using real case studies from the audience and their own experience with hundreds of imaging centers.

You will learn to:

• Understand the 8 clinical, operations and marketing systems.
• Conduct and evaluate a practice audit of your site.
• Develop and utilize strategies and tools to increase revenue.
• Learn how to overcome clinical, operations and marketing obstacles to growth.

How the Transition to HOPPS Has Affected Radiology


Pamela Kassing, BA, RCC
American College of Radiology
Reston, VA

Denise A. Merlino, MBA, FSNMTS, CNMT
Merlino Healthcare Consulting Corp.
Stoneham, MA

This session generously sponsored by American College of Radiology.

This session will provide a detailed discussion on how the transition from a cost-blend based system to the new prospective payment system has affected radiology departments in the hospital outpatient setting. The speakers will discuss details of the latest 2005 changes in the hospital outpatient prospective system (HOPPS) and information on how to comply with these changes.

You will learn to:

• Define the HOPPS and ambulatory payment categories (APCs) as they relate to radiology.
• Discuss the latest 2005 updates and changes to the HOPPS and APCs for radiology.
• Appropriately code and report costs to ensure that Medicare payment rates are fair and equitable.

Thinking About PACS? Critical First Steps Toward Success


Jay Mazurowski, BS, CRA, FAHRA
Concord Hospital
Concord, NH

This session repeated on Wednesday.

Before taking on a project that will include the selection, installation, implementation and oversight of a PACS system, it will be vital to perform comprehensive assessments in key areas throughout the organization as critical “first steps” in the PACS planning process. Assessment of the current reality of your infrastructure and general imaging environment will prove vital in helping to determine the “right fit” vendor, anticipate potential trouble spots prior to implementation and provide education to stakeholders with respect to system capabilities. Narrowing the field of viable vendor partners to find the “right fit” will also require a thoughtful and systematic assessment process. The information obtained from these assessments can be used to gain organizational support for your PACS project, help to align the project with larger strategic initiatives and will ultimately become much of the foundation for the request for proposal (RFP.) Early assessment will also prove beneficial in the financial planning for PACS and can reduce the potential of incurring unanticipated costs during the implementation process.

You will learn to:

• Perform infrastructure assessments in 5 key areas.
• Identify individuals who will add value to your PACS project.
• Develop structured techniques to evaluate vendor partners.
• Develop documentation tools to aid in the selection process.
• Organize your plan into a structured project management approach.

Help! I’m Responsible for Overseeing Coding!


Melody W. Mulaik, MSHS, CPC, CPC-H, RCC
Coding Strategies, Inc.
Powder Springs, GA

This session generously sponsored by Coding Strategies, Inc.

The goal of this session is to assist radiology managers with understanding the nomenclature and guidelines associated with hospital and imaging center coding. This basic session will include an overview of coding methodologies to decipher the alphabet soup associated with this increasingly complex area that challenges radiology professionals on a daily basis. In addition, the operational challenges associated with accurately performing and managing the coding process in the dynamic world of radiology operations will be explored to identify opportunities for improvement. Lastly, key coding concerns will be reviewed to allow for easy identification of potential problem areas. Are multiple studies being billed appropriately? Are all interventional codes being captured? These questions and more will be covered in this exciting session.

You will learn to:

• Review the current coding methodologies including CPT®, APCs, Revenue Codes and how these coding systems interrelate.
• Understand how radiology coding/billing is different from other specialties/departments and discuss key areas of concern to avoid inaccurate coding practices.
• Review operational responsibilities related to coding and identify methods for tracking accuracy and productivity of coding functions.

How to Use and Measure the Productivity of Your RIS/PACS for Proactive Management of Radiology Workflow


Pamela Moseley, MPHA, RT
Rochester General Hospital
Rochester, NY

Stephen Doerner, MBA, RT
Eastman Kodak Company
Naperville, IL

This session repeated on Wednesday.

Implementing a RIS/PACS not only improves productivity – it also gives radiology administrators the information required to effectively manage the production and delivery of radiology services. The measurement of productivity achieved from RIS/PACS enables a facility to maximize the additional capacity gained from an efficient digital process. This session will discuss how one hospital operated prior to installing RIS and PACS, and how operations changed after the installation – from time and motion studies that documented the time spent by technologists before and after the exam, to conducting the exam, reading the exam, transcription, getting report signatures and billing and reporting functions. The speakers will share how they presented the data to hospital administrators to document the achievements and how it was used to improve overall workflow design as well as influence decisions with respect to staffing and capital purchases.

You will learn to:

• Request appropriate data from your RIS/PACS vendor to monitor real-time operations throughout the department.
• Re-allocate radiology department resources to address current workflow needs.
• Assess and correct problems that result from pre- or post-imaging processes, including scheduling, transcription, reading and approval of reports.
• Set up a process to identify the time spent on each stage of a film-based imaging exam.
• Collect and interpret data from a RIS/PACS to measure the time spent for each stage in a digital workflow.
• Design and conduct a survey for physicians to measure their satisfaction with the delivery of radiology services.
• Present productivity data to hospital administrators to document the impact of a RIS/PACS on workflow and physician satisfaction.

Developing a Pro Forma


Steve Gaines, MS, RT(R)(CT), CRA
University of Texas Medical Branch
Galveston, TX

The pro forma is the backbone of any business or marketing plan as it serves as a best estimate of how well a business venture will perform over time. The pro forma is a necessary tool for a department to use when requesting equipment or staffing for a new project. It is also a necessity for a private business to use when obtaining funds from a lending institution or investors at start-up or expansion of existing services. This session is an interactive presentation on the definition, uses, preparation and benefits of a pro forma. The material discussed will give you the basic skills to prepare a pro forma for any type of business venture but will focus on radiology-specific projects. The speaker will also discuss a real-time spreadsheet preparation with audience participation, including revenue, expense and contribution sections of the pro forma.

You will learn to:

• Understand the definition, uses and benefits of a pro forma.
• Understand the components of a pro forma and why they are necessary.
• Prepare a pro forma to forecast the performance of your own business venture over a period of time.