There is significant nonclinical time and effort being spent by many of our physician resources, and most practices do not have an easy means to quantify it.
Have you ever wondered how much time the radiologists in your practice spend on nonclinical, unreimbursed activities? When you meet with clients to negotiate contracts, do you struggle to accurately quantify the hours your radiologists spend on tumor boards, hospital committees, patient safety activities, and other contributions?
That is the challenge that Strategic Radiology’s new application, RadVAULT, is designed to answer. RadVAULT, an acronym for Radiologist Value-added Unit Live Tracker, is available through a web browser and accessible via computer, smartphone, and tablet.
“There is significant nonclinical time and effort being spent by many of our physician resources, and most practices do not have an easy means to quantify it,” explains Randy Roat, chief operations officer, Strategic Radiology. “As with any business, SR practices must continually 'resell' their value to hospital partners. This is a great tool to enable radiology groups to quantify and demonstrate value-added services to their hospital partners and their local communities."
The core use of the tool will be physicians using the tool to log the time they spend on non-RVU activities, but the app also offers the ability to track based on four user role types: physician, physician administrator, administrator, and staff member. Practice leaders will be able to extract data and view reports that categorize, quantify, and track the user’s hours.
“Kudos and a special thank you goes to the team at Radiology Associates of North Texas who developed this technology internally and worked closely with SR to commercialize it for other SR groups," Roat says. "This is a great example of SR groups innovating and working together for the benefit of all.”
The tool was inspired by a technology that Radiology Associates of North Texas developed with a third-party developer. Strategic Radiology purchased the software from RADNTX and contracted Lumetis, Scottsdale, Ariz., to adapt and develop the tool for use by Strategic Radiology practices.
Over time, Strategic Radiology intends to enhance the tool to meet new and emerging needs, including tracking time member radiologists contribute to the SR organization, so that it can be quantified and acknowledged.
Strategic Radiology will offer RadVAULT to core member and affiliate organizations for an annual licensing fee that includes initial implementation, reporting, technical support, and an unlimited number of users.
“This is an easy-to-use tool with a quick, painless setup process,” emphasizes Josh Peterson, project manager. “Groups sign their license agreement and use our template to document their list of users. Dave Polmanteer, SR analytics and business intelligence director, and Pam Lopez, SR senior program analyst, will create the initial batch of users—a time-saver for the organization—and set up the system framework for the organization.” Polmanteer and Lopez also will train the practice point person to configure and use the system. Once configured, the practice point person will roll out the application and train the practice's users.
In March, Administrators should expect to hear from Peterson to gauge your practice’s interest in viewing a demonstration or in implementing the application. Meanwhile, if you have any questions, reach out to Peterson at jpeterson@lumetis.com.