7:45 AM - 8:45 AM
Exhibitor Symposium: Gadolinium Contrast safety Update 2018: What you need to know
Lawrence N. Tanenbaum, MD, FACR
Generously Sponsored by Guerbet
The presentation will be a discussion of benefits and strengths of the available extracellular fluid space gadolinium based MR contrast agents as well as an update on safety issues including NSF risk and the recently discovered concerns over gadolinium deposition in patients with normal renal function. The impact of recent knowledge on clinical neuro MRI practice will be covered with an emphasis on dealing with high risk clinical patients and circumstances.
You will learn to:
• Understand the benefits and strengths of the available extracellular fluid space gadolinium based MR contrast agents.
• Understand the role of MR contrast in the development of NSF and gadolinium retention
• Appreciate the role that stability plays in the risk associated with MR contrast agents.
• Become familiar with strategies for risk mitigation for vulnerable patient populations.
Domains: AM, OM, CI
CE Credits: 1
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Grand Opening Ceremony & Keynote
The Hero Effect™ - Creating a Culture of Heroes at Every Level
Kevin Brown
Generously Sponsored by Carestream
Kevin has a simple philosophy when it comes to leadership. He believes that you are "a leader of one or a leader of none." He believes that leadership begins with mastering self along with the daily habits required to become world class leaders, mentors and coaches to the teams we live and do business with. The foundation of this program can be summed up in one powerful idea…we reproduce what we are!
The role of leadership in an organization is to create an environment where people can be the best version of themselves. That is what serves a brand well and stands out in a crowded marketplace.
You will learn to:
• Create an environment where people are inspired to be the best version of themselves and deliver world class performance to the people they serve.
• Develop a team of people that are committed, focused and on fire for the brand they are helping to build.
• Design and deliver an organizational obsession statement that drives high performance and a world class customer experience.
Domains: HR, CI
CE Credits: 1
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Exhibit Hall Open
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Lunch Served
2:15 PM - 3:45 PM
Breakout Sessions
Tip of the Spear: Extreme Radiology & Interventions in Modern Warfare
Ronald J. Boucher, MD - Chief of Radiology/Professor, VA Portland HCS/OHSU
Riveting and Inspirational. This presentation will help appreciate many different aspects of leadership at the front line, creating value and teamwork. Demonstrated through evolution of radiology in the battlefront, showing the efforts of both American and coalition medical teams operating in Afghanistan. These teams provide medical care to the sick and wounded requiring well-coordinated patient care particularly in this specialized environment: the central role of the imaging at the original source of injury and in critical immediate life-changing and life-saving triage decisions; and the essential need for imaging at the point of care. The presentation served to educate the audience on the tremendous work being carried out each day, making a difference, by this international team as well as to recognize the tremendous sacrifices being made. This knowledge will ultimately improve the management and delivery of the practice of radiology, beyond the specialized environment featured in this presentation.
You will learn to:
• Utilize Leadership, teamwork, Compassion.
• Go beyond our comfort zone.
• Create Value in Imaging where we need it most.
Domains: HR
CE Credits: 1.5
Multi-Disciplinary Strategies to Improve Throughput and Improving Patient Experience
Diamantina (Tina) Peralta, BS, MBA - Radiology Manager, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas
Curt Bush, MBA, CRA, FACHE - Director of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Imaging Services, Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center
Healthcare continues to evolve, and we all look for better ways to take care of our patients at a lower cost. The length of time a patient is in the "system" the more expensive their care becomes. We had the opportunity to work with physician leaders, nursing leaders, and other allied health leaders to reduce the length of time that patients were in our system. Some primary drivers identified were the time it took to get a CT result from time of order in the ED, and the time it took to get IP MR and CT results from the time of order. The primary objective of the project was to improve turnaround time to reduce length of stay for IPs, and left before treatment complete for ED patients. Utilizing our LEAN Management System huddles, and PDCA methodology, we were able to make significant improvement in our throughput leading to better patient care which translated to a financial savings for the organization. While working through this project, we also had two secondary strategies. 1. reduce inappropriate utilization of imaging as a whole 2. reduce the use of stat orders in imaging. We were successful in all 3 areas while also implementing an intentional strategy to improve patient experience by going past the basic functions of AIDET. We'll talk about the methods used, barriers, challenges, successes, lessons learned, and results. We'll show successful strategies and implementations that lead to quantifiable results leading to safer, more efficient, and cost effective patient care.
You will learn to:
• Use data and analytics to drive changes in practice.
• Lead through influence and partnership.
• Utilize a complimentary strategy for improving patient experience.
Domains: OM, HR
CE Credits: 1.5
The Chutes and Ladders of Staffing
Janet Champagne, MBA, FACHE, CRA, CNMT - Director, Cardiology Services, Houston Methodist Hospital
Carrie Stiles - Multi-Modality Technologist, Houston Methodist Hospital
This session is generously sponsored by Houston Methodist Hospital
Financial Health, Safety & Quality, Patient Experience, Employee Engagement and even Revenue Capture are all downstream effects of having the appropriate staffing plans in place. This session will discuss the effects of inappropriate staffing levels, be it too many or too few, on each of these targets. It will demonstrate the key components of a staffing plan that begin with a well-defined position descriptions and how they impact the applicants recruited and the compensation packages presented to potential hires. Once on boarded, employees want a pathway towards advancement and this is addressed with a career ladder/ professional development program that will require a partnership with the employees, leadership, HR and compensation to develop and correctly deploy. This session will discuss some of the strengths and pitfalls seen in various plans. As a next step the session will move into how to create a staffing plan that takes into account the ebb and flow of patients through the departments that are often separated into multiple locations. Examples of productivity reports and how those measures can be used to calibrate staffing needs will be discussed. The session also help clarify needs for staff based on “station-fill” and regulatory standards. WHPUOS and other labor productivity tools will be defined, clarified and shown as examples. In the end, the session will provide you with the understanding of what is required to build a robust staffing plan that WOWs individuals within your organization!
You will learn to:
• Explain the effects of inappropriate staffing levels as they impact the financial health of an organization, and various metrics that impact quality & safety, patient experience and employee engagement.
• Evaluate staffing methodologies presented to discern which is appropriate for utilization in your organization.
• Employ the techniques to design a robust staffing plan for your organization.
Domains: OM, HR
CE Credits: 1.5
Do You Suffer From PFD (Poor Facility Design)? Ask Your Architect How FGI Can Help
Tobias Gilk, M.Arch, MRSO, MRSE, HSDQ - Sr. VP, RAD-Planning, Founder, Gilk Radiology Consultants
Robert P. Junk, AIA - President, RAD-Planning
So if you have seen one radiology room you have seen them all, right? Not any more, the new FGI (Facility Guidelines Institute’s) 2018 guidelines have taken a bold new approach to how we design and use imaging rooms. Gone are the days when all CT or MR or X-Ray or NucMed rooms were basically the same. Now, the imaging suite needs to first look at the needs of the patient and what type of procedure is being provided and tailor the room to meet the acuity level of the patient, with regard to infection control, medical gases, HVAC and power.
This 90-minute session will provide on overview of the complete re-writing of the FGI’s 2018 guidelines direct from FGI committee member, Tobias Gilk. Toby will share how these new standards will help elevate the level of patient care and what you need to know as Radiology Administrator to be in compliance.
This season will also highlight a series of real life case studies showing how imaging suite design mistakes can destroy your productivity, increase costs and shorten the life of your imaging equipment and what you need to know to prevent these mistakes from happening at your facility.
You will learn to:
• Identify several common radiology facility planning and design errors.
• Be able to quantify some of the costs of poor radiology planning
• Become familiar with the new 2018 FGI design standards, including a new acuity classification scheme
Domains: AM, OM
CE Credits: 1.5
This Year's Must Have Smart Phone Imaging Apps
Leslie Jebson, MHA, MBA, FACHE, FACMPE - Director, Lecturer, SIU Medicine
The imaging professional's smartphone has rapidly become the essential communication and operational resource. These incredibly powerful peripherals provide a seemingly endless array of tools from real-time communications to image viewing and supply chain planning. There are currently over 160,000 smart phone apps and growing that are specific to the healthcare market. This dynamic and interactive session reviews the newest and best apps for today's imaging professional.
You will learn to:
• Identify the best and most applicable smart phone applications for today's imaging professional.
• Review security and privacy implications behind smart phone app utilization.
• Learn the most efficient process in which to adopt new smart phone applications.
Domains: PM
CE Credits: 1.5
The Art of Managing Workplace Conflict
Stacy Kesten, B.A. in Psychology and Communications, Certifed Mindfulness Facilitator - Transformational Leadership Consultant, Integreated Leadership Systems
When its poorly managed conflict can hamper productivity and lower moral, however, conflict itself isn’t the problem. When managed well, conflict helps people to benefit from different perspectives, sparks creativity, and helps us to raise and address challenges in our organization. In this workshop you will practice use mindfulness to become more emotionally intelligent and learn how to use question your dysfunctional beliefs about conflict. You will also have the opportunity to practice assertiveness and other relational practices that help in communicating effectively during conflict
You will learn to:
• Question our dysfunctional beliefs about conflict.
• Manage emotions before, during and after conflict.
• Practice assertiveness in difficult situations.
Domains: HR, CI
CE Credits: 1.5
AHRA Regulatory Update
Sheila M. Sferrella, MAS, CRA, RT(R), FAHRA - President, Regents Health Resources
Melody W. Mulaik, MSHS - President, Coding Strategies, Inc.
This session repeats on Tuesday at 2:15 pm
Healthcare regulatory changes continue to hit imaging administrators at a rapid pace affecting both compliance and reimbursement. This session will focus on proposed as well as finalized legislation and changes for 2018-2019. Clinical Decision Support (CDS), site-neutral payment and other key issues will be reviewed during this session. The operational impact to your organization will also be discussed as well as any relevant AHRA surveys to see how you compare with your colleagues.
You will learn to:
• Discuss key regulatory initiatives affecting imaging providers
• Ensure attendees understand the short and long-term issues associated with regulatory changes.
• Ensure attendees are aware of existing and potential regulatory issues impacting reimbursement for hospitals and imaging centers.
Domains: OM, CI, FM, PM
CE Credits: 1.5
3:45 PM - 4:15 PM
Beverage Break
4:15 PM - 5:15 PM
Breakout Sessions
Implementing a Screening Breast Ultrasound Program (REPEAT)
Terry Lynn. Bucknall, CRA, FAHRA, BA, RT(R)(M), FNCBC, CN-BI - Director, Women's Imaging Services, Sheila R. Veloz Breast Center/Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital
Breast Density is found to be a risk for women to develop breast cancer. In addition to Mammography, Breast Ultrasound has been effective in detecting cancers that are not seen on mammography.
All Breast Imaging departments have challenges implementing new technology and services. This presentation will discuss the need and challenges in adopting whole breast imaging as a screening tool.
Implementation challenges include, identifying the patient's density, patient awareness of her own density, physician communication and education, modality selection (pros and cons of hand-held ultrasound vs Automated systems), system selection, education and training of your team, patient scheduling, insurance reimbursements, and marketing the service.
You will learn to:
• Understand the purpose for implementing a Breast Ultrasound Screning service.
• Understand the tools used in gathering density and options for screening ultrasound.
• Understand the challenges of implementing a Screening Breast Ultrasound program.
Domains: OM
CE Credits: 1
Why Do Smart People Do Dumb Sh*t?
Brenda DeBastiani, BA, CRA, FAHRA - Director of Imaging, Mon Health Medical Center
Why do smart people do dumb things? As leaders, we often wonder why someone chooses to do something so "dumb". What would make someone make such a bad choice? Why would someone disregard policies? Well, if you get to the root of the problem, did the person even know that they were making a bad choice? Did the person even identify that there was a problem? Why do people fail to use critical thinking which causes harm (or potential harm)? How do our past experiences influence our decisions? As leaders, we think that our employees disregard our instructions, but do they really? Maybe we aren’t as clear as we think!
You will learn to:
• Identify the risks of practical (procedural) drift.
• Give our employees clear expectations to avoid errors.
• Empower employees to use critical thinking.
Domains: HR, CI
CE Credits: 1
The Happiness Project - A Personal Satisfaction Survey
Hazel C. Hacker, MHA, FAHRA - Director JFK AMI OB/TR, Hackensack Meridian Health - JFK Advanced Medical Imaging
In our industry, we're being rated and will ultimately be paid on how happy and satisfied we make the patient. As we know, all things run downhill, so in order to be successful in this endeavor, happiness and satisfaction has to start with us. Scientific studies prove that happiness is more than just a pleasurable experience. It has essential properties that bring out the best in us. Increasingly, politicians from all counties are taking note of these findings and are reacting. One noted "When politicians are looking at issues they should be saying to themselves "How are we going to try and make sure we don't just make people better off, but we make people happier, communities more stable, and society more cohesive?".
On a more local level, we work at accomplishing this every day. By zeroing in on 5 vital elements of life, we can build the foundation for our personal happiness, which will enable us to be in a better position to help others. This interactive, introspective session will take a deep dive into a rich mix of exercises, conversations and assignments, designed to recharge and reset you. We'll look at ways to harness habits which may be contributing to happiness and learn a process for making healthy changes that stick. If you're ready to be the "Happiness and Satisfaction Leader" for your team, this session is for you!
You will learn to:
• Focus on qualities for living in which happiness becomes a wonderful byproduct.
• Recognize unhealthy sacrifices which impede your happiness.
• Understand the five step process for making healthy habit changes that stick.
Domains: PM
CE Credits: 1
Patient Experience: How We Did It
Michael Jordan, MHA, CRA, R.T.(R) - Director of Imaigng, Carolinas Healthcare System Union/Waxhaw
Crystal Parlier, R.T.(R), (M) - Director of Imaging, Carolinas Healthcare System Lincoln
Join in our journey of excellence. During this session we will share with you the tale of two hospitals, one healthcare system, and dramatic patient experience gains. We will share with you our best kept secrets on how to improve your patient experience through the use of several highly effective tools and improvement processes. The journey starts with lower than desired scores. Over the next several years we have risen to the top decile in patient experience. This was due to a highly engaged team and having the proper structure. The tools used first began at CHS Union and were subsequently used at CHS Lincoln with the same positive results. Do you want to get to the top decile in patient experience? Do you want to finally engage your team to own the patient experience? Let us share with you how.
You will learn to:
• Understand how accountability contrbutes to patient experience.
• Understand how teammate engagement contributes to patient experience.
• Learn about tools and techniques that were used to improve the patient experience.
Domains: OM, CI
CE Credits: 1
Blowing Out the Barriers For Increased Outpatient Access and Growth
John T. McGarry, BS Healthcare Administration - Director Imaging Services, UC San Diego Health
Expanding Imaging Services outpatient access beyond the norms for all modalities is not for the faint of heart. It’s a must in the current environment due to increased competition and payer directed steerage. The expanded imaging services offerings must be innovatively expanded to meet the customer's needs for ease of access for their exams and procedures. It requires challenging the norms and traditions of outpatient hours of operations as well as fostering paradigm shifts of thinking. An interactive and participatory collaboration of many from front line staff, support services, radiologists and administration is a must to ensure a full team buy in for a successful expansion of access and market share growth. This to include a comprehensive approaches in balancing in various customers’ demands for imaging access or expectations for trauma, ED, inpatient, acute stroke codes, STATs and outpatient orders. Additionally resources are to be identified and aligned within budgetary standards to include adjusting scheduling templates and the staffing over multiple shifts. UC San Diego Health has made those changes leading to a 30 % plus cumulative five year growth. Imaging Services at UC San Diego has outpaces all services over the two medical center campuses and clinics combine market share growth over the same period for all services. This to include Mammography, Ultrasound, MRI, CT, Nuclear Medicine and PET/CT over two academic medical campuses. Hear and discuss how UC San Diego Health, Imaging Services has and continues to grow its outpatient imaging services access, volumes and market share.
You will learn to:
• Assess the status quo and opportunities to expand outpatient imaging acess using both; data and clinically driven processes.
• Plan outpatient access with existing and future mutlipurpose modalities and resources.
• Overcome and navigate the professional, clinical and administrative politics to gain approvals and support for expansions.
Domains: OM, CI
CE Credits: 1
Supervision and Compliance: Hand-in-Hand
Melody W. Mulaik, MSHS - President, Coding Strategies, Inc.
This session is generously sponsored by Coding Strategies, Inc
Supervision and compliance continues to be a big issue for both imaging organizations and radiologists. There was a big settlement in 2017 and many organizations are having to do refunds because they did not appropriately follow the rules. This session will review the rules in detail so that everyone understands how and why they impact their organization and allows the attendee to understand what you can and cannot do from a coding and billing perspective in total’s regulatory environment.
You will learn to:
• Understand the current regulatory guidelines for supervision of imaging services.
• Appropriately apply the supervision guidelines to ensure compliance for all types of radiology services and providers.
• Ensure your questions are answered to clarify any areas of concern.
Domains: OM, CI
CE Credits: 1
Managing Difficult People
David J. Waldron, BSc, ACIB, CDipAF - Chief Executive Officer, Traction Business Development LLC
This session will start by covering the leader's behavior - building staff engagement, motivation, setting both performance and behavior expectations, then we'll work through coaching and into performance improvement plans. Finally working with HR to develop an exit plan for toxic and unresponsive employees.
You will learn to:
• Master the complexities around self-awareness, personal image and intentional leadership
• Engage with your staff and build an environment that promotes teamwork and enthusiasm
• Develop your coaching skills and gain the confidence to become and effective performance and behavior coach for your team
Domains: PM
CE Credits: 1
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Exhibitor Symposium: Safe, Fast and 3D: Transforming Your Imaging Department and Providing Value to Referring Physicians
Chris Smith CNMT, RT(N) – Administrative Director, Radiology & Imaging, Hospital for Special Surgery
Kriti Gwal MD- Pediatric Radiology, Pediatric Nueroradiology
University of California, Davis - Shriners Childrens Hospital, Northern California
Generously Sponsored by EOS Imaging
During the symposium, you will learn about the role of EOS in the orthopedic care pathway from patient positioning, to dose reduction and efficient exam workflows. Discover how other hospitals have grown their referring physician network, drawn patients through ALARA imaging, increased the efficiency of their exam workflows, and incorporated 3D into their clinical routine. EOS is more than an imaging system. Join us to learn how our advanced orthopedics platform will enable you to provide your doctors with brilliant images, robust 3D data and a complete suite of 3D surgical planning solutions for the spine, hip and knee.
You will learn:
• You will learn about the role of EOS in the orthopedic care pathway from patient positioning, to dose reduction and efficient exam workflows.
• You will learn how to use the EOS chair to address a broader patient population including non-ambulatory patients.
• You will learn how to use EOS as a recruitment tool for top surgeons, referring physicians and conscientious patients.
• You will learn the benefits of 3D and how to make it a part of your clinical routine through 3D Services and the EOSapps suite of 3D surgical planning software.
Domains: OM, AM, CI
CE Credits: 1
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
CRA Alumni Reception