Exhibitors at this year's show include manufactures showing off their high-tech wares, dealers and service organizations, consulting, billing and collection companies, as well as organizations including the American College of Radiology and the Joint Commission.

Many exhibitors at the trade show noticed that traffic was thin, but most still felt that AHRA was an essential show for their company--perhaps even more essential to their business development than the massive annual RSNA conference.


"Our mission here is to plug into the rad directors and managers," said Tom Kloetzly, Shimadzu Medical Systems vice president of national sales and marketing. "The rad directors and techs coming to this show roll up their sleeves and push the portable carts around. RSNA is very formal and marketing oriented....AHRA is quality time."


Despite other vendors indicating that they had poor turnout and may consider skipping next year's show, Kloetzly said Shimadzu's traffic was very good and that all the effort and cost of exhibiting was well worth it.

"We have three days; we get to exhibit for ten and a half hours total," said Kloetzly. "It's a big expense, but over the past few years this has wound up being, I think, our best show."

Balancing Quality With Costs

Under the imaging management umbrella, today's administrators and managers are faced with mounting challenges, especially in the areas of practice accreditation, coding and reimbursement, managing the medical imaging workforce, patient safety and other practice management issues.

Attendees at this show and imaging management professionals in general are shouldering the responsibility of balancing rising costs with cuts in reimbursement, keeping track of the cost of ownership and operation, managing assets, creating effective marketing plans and troubleshooting human resource issues, as well as staying informed of new industry legislation, and in the case of the "no self-referral" bill, the lack thereof.




Back at the DOTmed booth, Alex Sharpton from Kaiser Permanente presented a winning key out of the countless that were sent to potential attendees this year. Sharpton unlocked DOTmed's treasure chest and will take home an iPhone 3GS. Congratulations!

The AHRA conference is an event offering attendees solidarity, a place where they can develop their careers in the imaging industry, and a venue for the latest and most relevant technologies and organizations. Stay tuned to DOTmed News for more from AHRA leadership and exclusive vendor interviews and product launches from this year's annual meeting and exhibition.

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