Luma Health | Future of Healthcare Blog

Will Your Practice Make the Cut? - Luma Health

Written by Tashfeen Ekram, MD | Aug 28, 2015 10:00:40 AM

Welcome back! This is part 1 of a 2 part series on consumerization and personalization in healthcare.

We can’t rely on the same old equation with an increasingly competitive landscape.

Today’s Medical Trend: Consolidation

It is estimated that an additional 27,000 physicians will leave their private practice in 2016. Physicians find it increasingly hard to maintain independence due to increasing financial pressures from the Affordable Care Act, which increased requirements to upgrade technology, and mandated more complex billing processes.

Specialities Are No Exception To The Personalization of Healthcare

This is felt not only by primary care physicians. Radiology private practices face similar pressures. When radiologists see a large, well-established, 74-person radiologist group acquired by Sutter and feel the pressure from national teleradiology based practices to remove local practices, radiologists begin to question the benefit of maintaining independence. Even the untold gentleman’s non-compete rule between neighboring radiology groups has been violated.

In most cities, patients have options and do not see a difference between imaging centers. In order to survive in an increasingly competitive landscape, private outpatient imaging centers need to establish a strategy to embrace consumerization to stay competitive and fend off growing national-based teleradiology companies.

So, how can private practices remain competitive in an increasingly hostile market?

Read next week’s post for five ways to help keep your radiology practice competitive.

Download this thought leadership white paper for ideas on how to make a plan to drive appointments and recoup lost revenues. Don’t miss these actionable patient engagement tips.

Read part 2 of our series on consumerization and personalization in healthcare.

Tashfeen Ekram, MD, is a radiologist, self-taught coder, healthcare innovator and Co-Founder of Luma Health. Contact him on Twitter at @tashfeenekramMD.