The Radiology Business Management Association (RBMA) Radiology Summit is right around the corner, running June 7-10 in Las Vegas. Highlighting the event will be a special appearance by keynote speaker Zubin Damania, MD, also known to the world as ZDogg, MD, the wacky rapping internist.

In an interview with the RBMA, Damania spoke about his latest venture, Turntable Health, a primary care practice that provides care for a monthly membership fee. He said Turntable Health has had good luck forming beneficial relationships with local radiologists and  imaging centers.

“We partner with trusted large groups locally (Desert Radiology, Steinberg Diagnostics and others) to provide timely and high quality imaging,” Damania said. “Some of these partners offer great cash-only prices for our uninsured patients as well, and we tend to prefer those. One partner allows our clinicians to access their PACS so that we can view films in our office, which is really advantageous.”

Damania also said that radiologists have no reason to be alarmed by practices with out-of-the-ordinary payment options.

“When an imaging group works with us, we find that if they are flexible in how they can bill, this is a huge advantage for both parties,” Damania said. “Cash pay, sliding scale rates can be really helpful in our population, especially for the ‘underinsured,’ who would rather pay a lower cash-pay price for imaging even if it doesn’t tick towards their deductible (which many times can be $6,000 or more).”

Damania also shared some special advice his wife, who is a radiologist, shared with him about his big speech.

“Her main advice: ‘Don’t embarrass me amongst my colleagues!,’” Damania said. “Second, she tells me that when in doubt, ‘suggest clinical correlation.’”

The full RBMA Radiology Summit schedule can be found here. Maybe you’ll get lucky and hear a few rhymes from ZDogg himself!