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By AHRA Staff
August 2012—This August, Lawrence R. Muroff, MD, FACR of University of Florida, University of South Florida and Imaging Consultants, Inc., of Tampa, FL will present “Productivity Measurement and Management: Should You Step on the 3rd Rail of Radiology?” The session will address metrics for evaluating radiologist productivity and review a variety of published benchmarks. It will also describe the advantages and disadvantages of addressing differential productivity, examine the limitations of using clinical productivity metrics, and discuss possible models for practices considering rewarding or penalizing physicians based on clinical productivity and non-clinical administrative and practice-building activities.
Link managing editor, Kerri Hart-Morris, recently spoke to the presenter to get a feel for what attendees can expect from the presentation.
Link: What inspired you to present on this topic?
LM: This topic is of major importance to radiology groups throughout the country. The issue of productivity measurement and management has been the subject of intense (and at times heated) debate in many groups; it has been a topic discussed at major national imaging meetings; and it has been a topic of importance in the peer reviewed literature.
Link: Why is your topic relevant to our members?
LM: Many radiology practices are concerned about declining reimbursement and other trends impacting the specialty. One means of coping with declining income is to increase productivity. Often practices fail to recognize the importance of non-RVU producing activities such as consulting, attending conferences, educating technologists and referring physicians, and serving on hospital committees. This talk will discuss why groups might or might not choose to measure productivity, and if so, how to manage it.
Link: How might your presentation impact an attendee’s job and/or organization?
LM: Understanding the implications of productivity measurement and management can save practices from embarking on a project that, if done incorrectly, could rend the very fabric of the practice.
Link: What five words would you use to describe your presentation?
LM: Invaluable information for radiology practices.
Link: How can attendees prepare for your session in order to get the most out of it?
LM:The best preparation would be to attend with an open mind. For those who wish to read more on the topic, I would suggest the following two articles:
A) Duszak R, Muroff LR. Measuring and managing radiologist productivity: clinical metrics and benchmarks. J Amer Coll Rad 7 (6) 452-458, 2010.
B) Duszak R, Muroff LR. Measuring and managing radiologist productivity: beyond the clinical numbers. J Amer Coll Rad 7 (7) 482-489, 2010.
Link: What do you think attendees will be most surprised to learn from your presentation?
LM:That a radiologist, under the appropriate circumstances, could make more money for his/her practice not reading studies (pursuing new business opportunities, negotiating hospital contracts and 3rd party payer contracts, and practice building) than he/she could by just focusing on the production of RVU’s.
Link: If attendees were to remember one thing about your presentation, what would you most like it to be?
LM: That they left with practical information that they could immediately implement into their practices.
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