Radiology Alliance, Tennessee’s largest private practice radiology group, wasn’t necessarily looking for an acquisition or a merger, but when national health solutions partner MEDNAX reached out, it was an opportunity they had to consider. After carefully assessing all of the options and potential partners, it was MEDNAX’s physician-led culture, focus on outcomes and robust technology platform that were the key differentiating factors in Radiology Alliance’s final decision to join the company.

MEDNAX, which specializes in anesthesiology, neonatology, maternal-fetal medicine, other pediatric services, radiology and management services, announced the acquisition of Radiology Alliance in January. Radiology Alliance is the first on-site radiology group to join MEDNAX, complementing their addition of vRad in May 2015.

“…the technological capabilities MEDNAX offers through vRad, combined with our own practice-management expertise and physician-centric leadership, make us an extremely valuable partner to radiology practices,” Roger J. Medel, MD, CEO of MEDNAX, said in an official statement announcing the acquisition.

The partnership between MEDNAX and vRad reflects a desire for expansion from both organizations, according to Jason L. Shipman, MD, president of Radiology Alliance. MEDNAX’s comprehensive IT platform and remote technology brings high-tech patient care capabilities and the opportunity to expand our coverage in an efficient and highly specialized manner. In addition, the size and scale of their national network provides back office infrastructure to our practice without compromising our independence.

“In order to grow in our region and develop our services, we needed assistance from a capital partner that would enable us to enhance our hospital relationships,” Shipman says. “MEDNAX was the right choice because their leadership was looking to build a national radiology presence with onsite radiology partners but their model is to expand in a way that doesn’t change the culture of the practices on the ground.”

MEDNAX’s IT platform is a powerful tool for its practices. Bringing new sites into the Radiology Alliance fold is much simpler, thanks to the leading Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) and workflow technology developed by vRad. As Radiology Alliance grows, they’ll enter new hospital systems with unfamiliar PACS. Integrating those disparate networks into the same reading and referral system is critical for providing improved patient care, according to Shipman.

“If you are using one platform to read and refer patients, you can increase your subspecialty coverage and decrease duplicate studies,” he says. “For example, if a patient were to be transferred from an outlying facility to a trauma center, a common IT platform will allow you to read the studies while the patient is in transit so they are ready to be treated immediately upon arrival without duplicating an unnecessary exam.”

Radiology Alliance is also poised to benefit from vRad’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform that will be able to evaluate images before they’re seen by a radiologist, flagging images that may have critical findings. vRad is currently developing algorithms using large clinical datasets and deep learning technology that will make it easier than ever for a radiologist to review images, when the time to read and render a diagnosis is of the utmost importance.

“Artificial intelligence is something radiology will have to embrace,” Shipman says. “It isn’t about replacing a radiologist, it’s about triaging critical patients. I see AI as working in concert with radiologists to quickly identify and escalate possible critical findings—which is fundamental to providing better patient care.”

Value–based care is all about conservation of resources and time, but what happens when you need to prove that value? Physician service practices are increasingly expected to have a multitude of metrics and analytics at their disposal, explains Shipman, and MEDNAX offers the scale and back-office infrastructure needed to demonstrate Radiology Alliance’s value to hospitals, third party payors and patients.

“Turnaround times are something that every radiology group is looking into, but that in no way encapsulates the value of what a radiologist adds to medical care,” Shipman says. “We are more interested in developing quality parameters that reflect our efforts at improving care and our new partner is poised to help.”

Remaining independent

Above all, Shipman stresses the importance of maintaining independence.

“As part of the MEDNAX family, we are able to maintain our identity and essentially everything that makes Radiology Alliance what it is—the ability to hire the people we want and to practice excellent patient care and innovative radiology,” he says.

Radiology Alliance still performs a majority of their own night reads, although they also have a relationship with vRad.

“The relationships and service we provide in the hospital on a day-to-day basis are key differentiators for Radiology Alliance,” he says. “However, it’s helpful to have a hybrid approach, where our people on the ground provide relationships and vRad provides the bench that we need for future growth.”

At the end of the day, Shipman emphasizes that Radiology Alliance found the right partner.

“This is an exciting time for everyone involved, as we develop our practice with tools and opportunities that we did not have access to previously,” he says. “In MEDNAX, we have a partner that supports us now and helps us prepare for a healthcare world that mandates innovation to meet the evolving needs of patients and hospital partners.”