Top radiology executives are meeting this week at the Imaging 100 Conference in San Diego, CA. They will discuss how multi-site imaging centers and radiology groups may benefit from hospital partnerships, how to create new revenue by developing additional services, such as outpatient interventional services and radiation oncology centers, and how dedicated breast MR is a documented growth opportunity for the imaging industry. The event and concurrent ASC 100 meeting of ambulatory surgical center executives run March 22-24.

Hospital partnerships have historically been a point of contention for freestanding imaging businesses, but economic realities are giving imaging centers more incentive to enter joint ventures, says Kevin Locke, founding partner of Charis Healthcare, an Ohio-based hospital and imaging center consulting firm.

"Providing hospitals and independent operators are very concerned about the current economic climate," Locke says. "They're coming to these conferences wondering about their ability to stay profitable, both in the short term with the recession and for long-term growth after the economy stabilizes."
Locke will be an Imaging 100 speaker for the panel discussion titled "Hospitals: Friends or Foes." In addition to leading the strategic planning and market assessment branch at Charis, Locke is also publisher of Radiology Business Journal and Imagingbiz.com, and has been in imaging operations and health care consulting for 25 years.

The typical relationship between independent imaging centers and hospitals has been one of competition, especially in areas of the country where certificate of need (CON) laws dictate who can build imaging centers and who can't. Despite this, there has been a recent push toward alliance.

"Trends in the market place are forcing more alignment and joint ventures than in the past," says Locke. "Hospitals are becoming more interested in acquiring imaging centers or building new ones in JV."

Some of the benefits of partnership and joint venture include access to "new, stronger capital" and hospital balance sheets, and better access to physicians in the market. JVs may lead to cost reductions through staffing arrangements and purchasing contracts as well as more favorable reimbursement eligibility. Hospital partnerships also affect CMS and payer dynamics, sometimes dramatically, by providing imaging centers more clout. For that reason alone a joint venture can be very attractive.

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