As the industry turns increasingly toward value-based care, radiologists might want to prioritize and cultivate their professional relationships, one Texan physician wrote in the Journal of the American College of Radiology this month.
“Relationships are at the core of what we do,” Kurt Schoppe, MD, of the Radiology Associates of North Texas, wrote. “Not just with our colleagues when they refer studies to us, but with our hospitals, imaging centers and patients. We cannot perform our jobs without these relationships, [and] the way we behave toward one another and how we are connected.”
Though different individuals and organizations might define “value” differently, in medicine it typically means higher quality, better outcomes and lower costs, Schoppe said. But thinking of value in terms of graphs and numbers—and without a human element—is a mistake.
“The crux of delivering high-value care is trust,” he wrote. “So we must earn that trust from our referrers, administrators and patients.”
This is how Schoppe suggests radiologist build a strong base with their peers and their patients:
Sustain positive relationships
If a radiologist has already earned the trust of a referring physician, Schoppe said, they should keep that relationship alive. It can be cultivated through positive reinforcement, like if a referrer were to call a radiologist’s cell phone in the middle of the night for an off-hours emergency. Schoppe encourages answering that 3 a.m. phone call instead of ignoring it, because that physician is likely to refer new patients to a radiologist they know is reliable and has helped them in a pinch.
Reach out to administrators
Administrators’ jobs are commonly misunderstood by the physicians they support, Schoppe said, and a lack of communication means what administrators perceive as going on in the radiology department could be completely opposite from reality. Schoppe said he once attended a board meeting with an imaging client who wanted to discuss a host of quality measures his radiology department had already taken.
“We had felt comfortable providing what we thought was excellent service, but it didn’t matter because they couldn’t feel it,” he wrote. “Administrators see quality through a different lens.”
Don’t take your title for granted
Years of school, residencies and fellowships might have earned a radiologist the title of “doctor”—someone who, by definition, the general public respects and trusts—but it takes more than a degree to earn patients’ trust.
Mammographers and interventional radiologists earn their patients’ trust every day, Schoppe said. It’s important because, as a physician, you’re taking on a lot of responsibility for your patients and their emotional, physical and financial wellbeing.
“Our patients have more power than we think to support us,” Schoppe wrote. “Although patients did not always choose where to undergo their procedures and their diagnostic imaging, as they take on more responsibility for the cost of their care, these decisions will take on great importance.”
All of those things are key to radiologists finding success in a new value-based payment system, Schoppe said.
“Our patients will gravitate to the physicians and practices that make their journeys the easiest and most comfortable,” he said. “If we don’t earn the trust of our customers, they will take their loyalties and our reimbursements elsewhere.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.