Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/56757
THE CHALLENGE OF COMPLIANCE MEETING THE ONGOING quality standards imposed by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and other health care reform has led to a number of initiatives within Consulting Radiologists Ltd. (CRL). According to Neeraj Chepuri, M.D., Neuroradiologist, President and CEO at CRL, most of the financial effects have been felt in the form of changing payment structures. "For better or worse, imaging is in the crosshairs of a national political debate surrounding expenditure reductions," Dr. Chepuri says. "Our philosophy is that, while imaging equipment is expen- sive, it's an investment. We believe we meaningfully contribute to the health care process, so our challenge has been to increase overall quality and keep costs down." Dr. Chepuri says he has seen a number of severe and arguably arbitrary expenditure cuts imposed on a national scale. These cuts have been a reality for CRL and many other imaging practices in the past few years, and both Drs. Chepuri and Oswood believe spending reductions will continue. "We are already seeing changes in favor of more standardized reporting for quality control," Dr. Oswood says. "At CRL, we have made it a priority to provide quality data to our referring hospitals, which will be critical as we move toward a pay-for-performance reimbursement model. Despite uncertainties, we believe CRL is well-positioned to compete within this new model." Neeraj Chepuri, M.D. corresponding images so radiologists at CRL can complete diagnostic work-ups remotely. "These technologies make it possible to send and store images that retain full fidelity and comply with HIPAA standards for patient identification," Dr. Chepuri says. "Because CRTIS is a Web-based solution, any referring physician can access data at any time." Within the next year, CRL plans to inte- Mark Oswood, M.D., Ph.D. grate dictation software into the practice's overall electronic health records system. This new software will instantaneously convert physician dictations into text, enabling referring physicians to access those notes in a matter of minutes rather than days. As Dr. Chepuri notes, this is one of many resources CRL has implemented and will continue to implement to bring a higher standard of imaging to the Twin Cities and abroad. "We're trying to make imaging cost-effective, highly accurate and oriented to the needs of referring physicians. By using our subspecialty expertise and technology, I believe we're spearhead- ing many innovations that patients in the rural Midwest haven't seen before." For more information about Consulting Radiologists, Ltd., visit www.consultingradiologists.com. ■ MDNEWS.COM ■ MD NEWS Twin Cities | 1 1