Can academic radiology departments become more efficient and cost less?

[Controlling instruments in radiology]

Due to the rising costs and competitive pressures radiological clinics and practices are now facing, controlling instruments are gaining importance in the optimization of structures and processes of the various diagnostic examinations and interventional procedures. It will be shown how the use of selected controlling instruments can secure and improve the performance of radiological facilities. A definition of the concept of controlling will be provided. It will be shown which controlling instruments can be applied in radiological departments and practices. As an example, two of the controlling instruments, material cost analysis and benchmarking, will be illustrated.

Effective radiology teams

Teams can be very helpful in quality improvement, the service recovery process, and reengineering. Teams can increase organizational communication, quality, productivity, and morale. However, not all teams work well, and some can waste time, cause resentment, and be a net negative for an organization. This article summarizes some of the steps in getting a team to a good start, keeping it running well, having effective meetings, and correcting some common problems.

Administration of a CT division

A computed tomography (CT) division can be viewed as a business subsidiary of a larger corporation-the radiology department. While a large amount of radiologic literature has been devoted to specific CT techniques and applications, there has been less of a focus on the operational structure required to achieve quality and efficiency in a CT division. This report includes discussion of the managerial structure, equipment purchases, continuing education, protocols, billing, and quality assurance measures that can be used to administer a CT division.

A proposed scheduling model to improve use of computed tomography facilities

A nonpreemptive queuing system based upon operations management theory is used to evaluate expected steady state wait periods for traditional and distributed CT scheduling models. Both models are constructed using two classes of patient service--emergent and nonemergent. The former model uses only one point of service per scanner while the latter employs multiple points of service in order to accomplish all of the functions necessary to complete a CT scan. Sample data are drawn from a tertiary care hospital-based system using a traditional service model. Comparison of a traditional and distributed service system, each with emergent and nonemergent service classes, shows that breaking as many activities as possible out of the scanner should provide substantial improvements in cost efficiency and service for patients having CT scans. Nonemergent patients may experience as much as an 89% reduction in steady-state wait times while emergent patients may experience as much as a 59% reduction in wait times. The cost efficiencies recognized either through increased scanner utilization or reduced scanner needs, even with only modest improvements, should more than offset any additional personnel needed to implement a distributed model. Proper implementation of a distributed scheduling model for CT scanning can provide substantial cost efficiencies and improvements in service for both nonemergent and emergent CT scans.