Summit Highlights Radiology Centennial
ACR Bulletin
September 1995
Summit Highlights Radiology Centennial
Radiology 1995: Past Reflections and Future Focus was the theme of this year''s Radiology Summit meeting, which was attended by representatives from 37 radiology organizations that participate in the Intersociety Commission.
Highlights of the weekend included a special ceremony to honor the Radiology Centennial and the late Glen Hartman of Rochester, MN, who initiated the celebration of 100 years of radiology.
The plenary session on Friday morning included the Hartman lecture given by Bruce L. McClennan of New Haven, CT, chairman of the Intersociety Commission. In his presentation he gave a detailed history of the role of societies in radiology. The Honorable Richard Lamm, former governor of Colorado, spoke on "Future Issues in Health Care: Human Resources in Medicine and Radiology." Jonathan Sunshine, ACR senior director of research, outlined the employment situation in radiology, which included a current update and future prospects. ACR Senior Director of Government Relations, Gary Price, gave a legislative update and Karl K. Wallace, Jr. of Charlottesville, VA, ACR president, delivered an update on ACR activity.
Workgroup topics chosen for this year were on postgraduate medical education and managed care. They were chosen because they will play a major role in the re-engineering of the practice of medicine and the delivery of radiological services to patients.
The workgroup, Postgraduate Medical Education: Past Footprints and Future Paths, was co-moderated by E. Stephen Amis, Jr. of New York, NY and Beverly P. Wood of Los Angeles. The goal of this workgroup was to discuss several pressing elements of graduate medical education facing radiology during the next decade in order to make substantive proposals for changes in response to the ongoing events in medical care delivery. This included discussion on training for medical students, residents, and fellowships.
The following recommendations were made: 1) radiologists should provide satisfactory employment for graduating residents and fellows; 2) radiologists should encourage efforts to recruit the best medical students into the specialty and provide balanced counsel on job markets; 3) the size of residency programs should remain a local issue; 4) emphasis should be placed on training programs to produce radiologists who know how to use the imaging sciences; and 5) the Residency Review Committee (RRC) and radiology should be encouraged to continue efforts to accredit only "good" programs.
The workgroup, Managed Care: Present and Future Implications for Radiology, was co-moderated by Michael Brant-Zawadzki of Newport Beach, CA and Dieter Enzmann of Stamford, CA. The agenda included discussion on outpatient private practices and large medical centers using the Porter model of competitive advantage in the marketplace. Five major forces at play in the marketplace for the "imaging industry" were analyzed and included discussion on reimbursement and organizational structure. Several recommendations were made including: 1) monitoring the activity of insurance companies with regard to limiting the ability of physicians to integrate either into vertical or horizontal groups and/or compel them to assume insurance company status when taking risk for patient care; 2) analyzing the current utilization of para-professionals and their role in providing technical and interpretive services traditionally done by professional radiologists; 3) sug-gesting development of an industry database for cost analysis, productivity patterns, and reimbursement climates for radiology practice and enhance the dissemination of this data to primary care physicians; and 4) educating the primary care physicians and general public to the value of diagnostic imaging and its role in preventive care.
James H. Thrall of Boston, MA and Edward Staab of Gainesville, FL concluded the weekend session with a presentation which outlined the history of radiology and the future as related to technology - yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
