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Sessions

[HB] Featuring a complete Hospital-Based Marketing Track!

Monday, March 19, 2012

8:30–8:45 a.m.
Welcome and Announcements

8:45–9:45 am
General Session
Batteries Included: How to Charge & Recharge Your Creative Cells
Tim Wright, MBA
Every individual has a creative self. That creative self differs from one individual to the next. This session explores specific tactics to allow participants to recognize, accept and appreciate their creativity. Batteries Included relates the individual’s creative powers to her/his everyday environment, especially work. Batteries Included provides participants numerous techniques to turn on, turn up, and turn loose their creative powers. A variety of stories and interactive activities insure that participants experience their creativity, take ownership of how to vitalize their creative skills, and leave with specific applications for “creativity at work.”

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

List everyday applications and appreciations of creativity.
Explain the role and reality of creativity at work, any kind of work.
Explain how to boost one’s own creative powers and their everyday use.

10–11a.m.
Concurrent Sessions
[HB] Understanding Customer Service in the Hospital Based Radiology Practice - A Case Study About Enhancing The Lifeblood of Continuing Referrals
David Bader, MD and Angelo Devita, MPH
The future success of hospital-based radiology is linked to our understanding of our customers’ interest and their experience with our service. The radiologists at St Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester, Mass. have created a highly successful customer service outreach program and institutionalized it as a part of the performance improvement initiatives in the hospital. The chief of radiology at St Vincent’s will share details of their innovative approach and provide a quantitative assessment of their results. In addition, a representative from St Vincent’s practice management partner will provide a contextual understanding of the success of this program in light of market trends in medicine.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Identify the many different customer segments you serve (e.g. Referring docs, patients, hospital execs, community services etc).
Assess the key metrics that define success in improving your services (wait times, doctor availability and accessibility, professionalism etc).
Use readily available low/no-cost methodologies to collect data and target the areas that need attention through objective research and quantitative assessment.
Institutionalize your programs to ensure compliance from all parties.

"That's Remarkable!": Creating Extraordinary Patient Experiences that Build Loyalty, Bolster Buzz and Boost Business!
Gail Schwartz and Tina Rudisill
Extraordinary service is more than good business: it’s also good medicine. Research documents that quality of patient experience decisively impacts compliance with healthcare regimens. With uncertainty and increasing competition, creating an extraordinary experience is critical, enabling you to stand out from competitors and win referrals. This session will take a critical look at conventional customer experience, and demonstrate ways to create remarkable experiences. After reviewing examples of “just good enough” and “remarkable” service, the presenters will discuss strategies and tactics to generate buy in from your team and boost business.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Explain how the patient experience with medical facilities can impact future health behaviors, attitudes, and decisions.
Assess your current patient experience, and begin to think about ways to create truly remarkable experiences.
Outline strategies to motivate your organization to generate buy-in and accountability for delivering remarkable experiences for every customer.

Collaborative Conversation: How to Get More Successful Interaction Among Your Workforce
Tim Wright, MBA
Collaborative conversation sounds like a fancy name for teamwork. It’s not. It’s more. It is an essential ingredient of teamwork, of employee attitude and performance, or engagement and improvement. What facility doesn’t want at least one of those? This session will examine specific techniques that increase open and authentic conversation skills (and confidence) among your team members. These techniques set you on the path to collaborative conversation as fundamental in your business.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Explain how and why conversation (not communication) is critical to success in every radiology practice, yours included.
Define what collaborative conversation means and includes…and why it’s so superior to reactive conversation.
Outline a strategy to increase your team’s trust in their ability to have open conversations and authentic conversations.

11 a.m.–noon
General Session
RBMA Quest Award People’s Choice Judging
Here is your chance to view RBMA 2012 Quest Award entries and cast your vote for the marketing entry that stands out in your mind.

1–2 p.m.
General Session
Daring to be Disruptively Different: Understanding Why Disruptive Differentiation in Your Market is Not Just OK but Essential
Gail Schwartz and Tina Rudisill
Radiology practices face evolving challenges in their efforts to be the preferred choice in their markets. For most patients and referring physicians, an MRI is an MRI and a CT is a CT. Without differentiators, a practice can become “invisible,” leaving your market with little understanding of why to choose any particular practice. Proactive differentiation is essential to the viability and prosperity of your practice. The presenters will review benefits of differentiation and make the case that differentiation efforts must be aggressive and disruptive. Real-world case studies will be reviewed.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Articulate why differentiation is the key to positively positioning your organization for success.
Assess your current marketing strategy and communications platform to determine if you have defined key points of differentiation for your group.
Identify effective approaches to defining and implementing differentiation strategies in your environment.

2:15–3:15 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions
[HB] What's Keeping You Up at Night: Driving Business to Hospital-Based Imaging?
Sherri Lewman and Laurie Slater
What is keeping you up at night? The climate has truly shifted and created difficult strategic challenges bound by regulations and financial constraints. Imaging costs have been the fastest growing segments in health care, triggering aggressive payer responses intended to force consolidation of the market. Thus, independent center administrators and staff are finding themselves either competing for space in the market or swimming in a sea of hospital-based regulation. The strategy hospital administrators have faced is to aggressively price its services to payers to create allies that will, in turn, promote their facilities to patients and referring physicians coupled with aggressively marketing to these same customers. Understanding how to navigate through the issues is critical for overall success. Learn from a leader who operates in a highly competitive market with a hospital-based portfolio. They have survived through a balance of operational, strategic, marketing and sales strategies. Hear the implications, your suggested role, and how you can apply targeted tactics and insights to alleviate sleepless nights for all.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Demonstrate an understanding of legal implications for hospital-based imaging entities.
Explain the best approach to retain and grow business.
Apply strategies to use in the market place.

Measuring Your Marketing Effect: Translating the Code
Brian Baker
One of the biggest challenges for any marketing agenda is measuring the direct impact of programs on your audience. Translating the code for measuring the influence of your marketing efforts reside in the data, techniques and tools available to modern imaging operations. Few businesses have the luxury and ability to measure and value their effect on a market like imaging operations. Tapping into that data and learning how to interpret and use it can have dramatically positive effects on your market share and customer satisfaction.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Outline the systems containing data and how to tap them.
Explain how to turn data into information and measures.
Leverage data to drive market capture and compensation.

Who Moved My Cheese? Why Every Radiology Practice Must Be Ready for Change
Rand Stack, MD, MBA
The best-selling business book “Who Moved My Cheese?” is a fable about creatures whose resistance to change puts them in danger of starvation. In the face of unprecedented threats to radiology reimbursement, every radiology practice must anticipate and be poised to respond to change. This session will discuss the sources of information that practices should monitor in order to recognize critical changes as they appear on the horizon. This session will also review steps that practices should take to place themselves in the best competitive position to thrive in a changing economic environment.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Explain the danger to radiology practices of failing to respond to changes, including those changes resulting from recent legislation.
Recognize signs that your current way of doing business will become a liability in the near future.
List strategies for thriving in the presence of a changing economic environment.

3:30–4:30 p.m.
General Session
The Three R's of Radiology Marketing: Referrals, Relationships and Reputation
Kathleen Larey Lewton, MHA, Fellow PRSA
When all of the talk about social media, paid advertising and marketing gimmicks is said and done, the core of successful marketing is about referrals, relationships, and reputation. In health care, reputation drives and supports physician referrals and consumer marketing, and is based in large part on customer experience which is based almost exclusively on relationships—the person to person links that need to be created and nurtured.

Marketing staff need to build their plans on a foundation that focuses on internal relationships and customer relationships. Another key "R" which will help make this all happen is research—understanding who makes decisions about utilization of radiology services, how they feel about your practice and why they feel that way, when and where to reach out to them, and what messages will be most effective. While we don't want to miss out on any "hot" new tactics, now is the time for successful health care service marketers to revisit the core strategies—WITH some new approaches and execution—to build solid referrals, relationships, reputations and revenues!

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Explain how to identify and map the key decision points and decision makers involved in utilization of radiology services.
Articulate how to use current research methods to evaluate employee, referring physician and patient satisfaction, as well as their needs, concerns and preferences.
List ideas and strategies for delivering superlative customer service (for internal and external customers), and ways to salvage customer service glitches.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

8:30 am–10:00 am
General Session
Stump the Marketer
Test the skill and knowledge of industry experts. Prepare and submit your toughest marketing question with your registration application or email it right now to kimberly.mydland@rbma.org. During the session, the panel will randomly select pre-submitted questions to answer on the fly. Put on your thinking caps, find or recall your biggest challenge, and try to stump the marketer!

10:15 am –11:15 am
Concurrent Sessions
[HB] The Medicare Shared Savings Program: Key Details and Strategic Implications for Radiology
Rob Lazerow
sponsored by vRad
This presentation explores key aspects of the final rule for the Medicare Shared Savings Program, including eligibility criteria, methods for patient attribution and bonus calculations, the role of clinical quality requirements, and the application process. The session will highlight the most significant changes between the draft rule and the final provisions and discuss the strategic calculus facing providers considering whether to participate. Finally, the presentation will explore key implications for freestanding and hospital-based radiology practices.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Explain the critical details of the final rule for the Medicare Shared Savings Program.
Evaluate the implication of changes in the final rule on provider participation in the program.
Assess the implications of the Shared Savings Program for freestanding and hospital-based radiology practices.

Marketing Your Services - What You Need to Know to Stay Out of Trouble
Adrienne Dresevic, Esq. and Stephanie Ottenwess, Esq.
This session will discuss the legal issues associated with marketing imaging services, including: Compliance with Stark Exceptions; Compliance with Anti Kick-back Safe Harbors OIG Guidance and Opinions Independent contractor vs. employment issues Recent government scrutiny regarding marketing; and Compliance with Civil Monetary Penalty Laws. The presenters will use real life examples to demonstrate compliance with the above concepts.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Demonstrate a basic understanding of Stark, Kick-back and CMP law related to marketing.
Explain what the Government thinks of certain marketing activities.
Identify which marketing activities are permissible and impermissible under the law.

Let the Games Begin: What Healthcare Reform Means for Radiology PracticesSarah Mountford, CPC, RCC
More than 2,200 pages constitute the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” and “Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010” signed into law in March, 2010. The all-encompassing changes are sure to put more stress on the already competitive radiology market. But what exactly is in it for radiology and how will it affect you? How can you navigate the maze of ever-changing regulations and strategize so that your practice is a winner? Analyze provisions buried in the healthcare reform packages that impact radiology practices and receive an outline of the changes over the next 10 years to help guide your organization. The session will also take attendees through areas of operational and financial impact. You’ll get a detailed preview of what your organization can expect, how it can prepare, learn the new rules, play the game and prevail.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Explain how Health Care Reform will impact your radiology practice.
Demonstrate how to interpret the implementation timeline for radiology specific provisions.
List ways to estimate the financial impact for your practice.

11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Roundtables

Marketing IR Services
“Progress Through Sharing” Marketing Idea Swap
Have a new process that you successfully implemented within your practice? Have a question you would like to pose to your marketing colleagues? Bring your successes and your questions to this session and be ready for a highly interactive session that is sure to provide you with some new ideas!
Stark Q&A With the Attorney

1:30–2:30 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions
[HB] Seeking Common Ground: Strategies for Healthy Relationships Between Hospitals and Radiology Practices
Randal Roat, CHBME
Recent radiology market trends suggest that there is increasing competition and more hospital focus on non-traditional options, as well as tightening of cash flow for groups and hospitals, with more direction of imaging to facilities. Paired with increasing regulation, inconsistent application and funding problems, radiology groups may need to make a case for re-engineering the current radiology practice model. This session will look at various hospital-practice models and relationship success strategies that benefit both hospitals and practices as they search for common ground in a changing marketplace.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Differentiate the complexities of hospital relationships by looking at radiology practice versus traditional business models.
Collaborate with the hospital on recruitment, operations, joint ventures and turf battles.
Explain how to add market value via enhanced clinical integration, reporting, customer service and network communications.

Five Things You Need to Know About Meaningful Use For Medical Imaging
Brian Baker
The adoption of health IT and data collection is not an end unto itself but represents the future of healthcare. The Meaningful Use framework has been designed to leverage electronic records and data from providers to improve quality, safety, and efficiencies of provider organizations through standardized goals and objectives. Understand the process and explore some of the options and tools available to accomplish this complicated objective for imaging during this informative session.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Present an overview of the Meaningful Use criteria.
Explain their impact on medical imaging.
Outline options for complying with the Meaningful Use criteria.
Explain secondary business benefits that compliance can provide for operations and profitability.

ROI: Best Practice Measures and Metrics as it Correlates to Physician Relations/Sales
Laurie Slater and Jill Stratton
Is your team challenged with building and reporting return on investment for your physician relations program? Obtain core national models that are currently being utilized and understand the rationale for these models. Presentation will align the researched measures to key organizational measures of success such as territory management, performance standards, operational readiness, and physician engagement and referral volumes. This will then translate into physician relations/imaging sales program measures to deliver return on investment tied to organizational goals. A real life imaging practice and hospital-based imaging client case studies will be presented by a provider demonstrating their measures, tracking/data systems and return on investment results. Lessons learned and next steps for improvement will also be presented.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Demonstrate an understanding of the theory behind return on investment (ROI) and it’s alignment with current measures and goals.
Explain how outside research supports the ROI theory and measures and learn how to apply those formulas to your organizational situation.
List lessons learned from providers’ client case studies regarding their application of research to organizational measures and their ultimate ROI results.

2:45–3:45 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions
Crisis Management: The Time to Prepare is NOW!
Kathleen Larey Lewton, MHA, Fellow PRSA
In healthcare, it's not IF a crisis will happen—it's WHEN and HOW will we handle it. From patient lawsuits to staff accusations of sexual harassment, patient safety errors to billing errors, any organization that provides health care services is continually at risk of an unexpected crisis. Radiology services are often in the spotlight and if mistakes happen, that spotlight has to be managed. Most “crisis plans” today are still based on old rules, created for a slower and less intrusive media environment. By using an innovative crisis preparedness audit and a new set of best practices for spokesperson preparation and scenario “war games” for executives, health care organization PR and marketing staff can ensure that when that inevitable reputation-threatening crisis occurs, your organization will respond in a way that will preserve and protect the reputation that drives referrals and patient choice.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Explain how the current 24/7, blog and online-driven media environment requires an utterly new way of managing a crisis situation rather than the old step-by-step “first get the facts” approach.
Outline the process to assess your crisis preparedness and readiness as the first step in building a plan that will be effective in managing both internal and external needs and expectations.
Explain how to make sure that physicians are well prepared to handle a crisis, whether it's avoiding the "no comment" mentality, or wanting to say too much to the TV reporter.

How Sticky Are You? Using EHR Integration to Hook Your Referring Physicians
Stephanie Boreale
Technology seems to be one very strong path to continue to build and cultivate relationships with your referring community. With ARRA and Meaningful Use driving the need for interconnectivity in the medical community we need to understand why we should be focused on this initiative. These connections lend to new business development efforts. This course will outline how one radiology practice pursued this project by utilizing project management techniques and their own medical community lab. Roadblocks, frustrations and successes of this project will be shared, as well as, tools that can easily be used in your own efforts.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Explain why ARRA is important and how it relates to our industry and EHR Integration.
Outline the methodology of project management techniques.
List different integration options for your medical community.

Grow Your Radiology Group Rapidly with Targeted Marketing Tools You May Already Have But Don't Use
Dennis Howard and Leslie Nicholson
For physicians to be good marketers, they must be effective communicators, so they must utilize the tools already at their disposal. Physicians can send marketing messages using tools they already employ such as: patient portal messaging, target marketing in patient statements, messaging with Facebook and LinkedIn, online marketing interaction, adding marketing email signatures, employing patient referral programs and numerous others. This presentation provides a step-by-step action plan to employ these marketing tools and other so that your group can easily and effectively target marketing to your patients while investing minimal time and money.

At the conclusion of this session the attendee will be able to:

Explain how to increase marketing efforts at no cost to your group.
Employ targeted messages based on the specific needs and demographics of your patients.
Demonstrate how to add value and increase awareness with patients about your current and new service offerings through effective messaging