Many DICs are looking for, or already have, partnerships with the hospitals in their region as a way to grow.

Hospitals are well aware that the DICs are in competition with their in-house diagnostic services. But they are ways to create a symbiotic relationship with a hospitals that becomes a "win-win" situation. One way to make this happen is to find a key player in the hospital who sees the DIC as a partner, not a competitor.




"If you boil it down, what imaging centers do is provide information -- information in the form of a diagnostic image," observed Ronald Lissak, CEO & President of Integral PET Associates, New York, NY. "And if that's all you do, you're easy to replace. What we do is add value to that information. We do it by being part of the therapy continuum, part of the therapy team. And that's something the oncologist, the radiologist, and the patient all value," Lissak noted.

Several visionary conference participants see beyond the current industry pitfalls.

Ravi Chopra, President and CEO, The C/N Group, located just outside of Chicago, sees the current developments as, "a part of the natural maturation process. The free-standing imaging business saw rapid growth, and now there will be a period of consolidation. But we provide an essential service that is not going away. I believe our service is much more focused on the patient, and focused on detailed, quality reports, because we typically do not perform imaging on an emergency basis, when quick, "yes or no" interpretations are required. The question is, how much non-critical diagnostic imaging will continue to be performed on an outpatient basis, and how much will be hospital-based?"




Kevin Cross, COO, Touchstone Medical Imaging, Brentwood, TN, believes that DICs that deliver, "quality service, quality imaging, and a quality experience for the patient," will continue to succeed, regardless of the business climate.

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