ICE Magazine May 2022

MAY 2022 | VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 5

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ADVANCING MAGAZINE

IMAGING PROFESSIONALS

RURAL COMPLICATIONS Challenges of Delivering Medical Imaging to a Shrinking Population

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PRODUCT FOCUS PAGE 27

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FEATURES

63

DIRECTOR’S CUT Author shares suggestions on how to increase one’s unproductive productivity.

03

COVER STORY

The challenges of delivering rural America access to the same level of care that those in more densely populated areas can reach are growing further complicated.

21

RISING STAR

Houman Hayatgheyb (Tony Hayat) began making an impression on imaging professionals while still in college.

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ICEMAGAZINE | MAY 2022

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

MAY 2022

19 IMAGING NEWS

Catch up on the latest news from around the diagnostic imaging world.

27

PRODUCT FOCUS

The CT market size is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.76% from 2022 to 2027.

40

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

When it comes to making changes in either ourselves or our companies, change takes time.

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ICEMAGAZINE

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CONTENTS MD Publishing 1015 Tyrone Rd. Ste. 120 Tyrone, GA 30290 Phone: 800-906-3373

SPOTLIGHT

President

10

In Focus Mary Myers, BS, CNMT, and Operations Manager of CT, PET and Nuclear Medicine for Valley Health System

Vice President

12

Rising Star Houman Hayatgheyb (Tony Hayat)

14

Rad Idea It’s Time to Move Patient Images Online

16

Off the Clock Kitt Shaffer, MD, Ph.D., FACR

John M. Krieg john@mdpublishing.com

Kristin Leavoy kristin@mdpublishing.com

Group Publisher

Megan Strand megan@mdpublishing.com

Editorial

John Wallace

Art Department Karlee Gower Taylor Powers Kameryn Johnson

NEWS

19

Imaging News A Look at What’s Changing in the Imaging Industry

Events

Kristin Leavoy

Webinars

Jennifer Godwin

Digital Department Cindy Galindo Kennedy Krieg

Accounting Diane Costea

Editorial Board

Laurie Schachtner Nicole T. Walton-Trujillo Mario Pistilli Jef Williams Christopher Nowak

ICE Magazine (Vol. 6, Issue #5) May 2022 is published by MD Publishing, 1015 Tyrone Rd., Ste. 120, Tyrone, GA 30290. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ICE Magazine at 1015 Tyrone Rd., Ste. 120, Tyrone, GA 30290.

For subscription information visit www. theicecommunity.com. The information and opinions expressed in the articles and advertisements herein are those of the writer and/or advertiser, and not necessarily those of the publisher.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. © 2022

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PRODUCTS

26 27

Market Report

Product Focus Computed Tomography (CT)

INSIGHTS

36 Director’s Cut

Increase Rest Ethic With Moments Of Unproductive Productivity

38

PACS/IT Artificial Intelligence and My People

40

Emotional Intelligence You Can’t Get Change in a Weekend Workshop

42

Rad HR Preserve and Protect Your Legacy

44

Roman Review Wrong is Right

46 53 54

ICE Break AMSP Members

Index

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

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SPOTLIGHT

IN FOCUS MARY MYERS

BY JOHN WALLACE

M

ary Myers, BS, CNMT, is the operations manager of CT, PET and nuclear medicine for Valley Health System, Winchester Medical Center. Her imaging career received a boost from mentors along the way.

Mary Myers says mentors helped her reach new heights in the imaging field.

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“Through each stage of my career, I’ve had many mentors,” Myers explained. “I’ve had the pleasure of working for many great leaders and physicians, and with many memorable coworkers. I think that everyone you work with brings valuable snippets that you can use to piece together to develop your own leadership style. My biggest takeaway from my mentorships, is that more often than not, they were unspoken of. The best leaders know how to support you, encourage you and help you to develop your skills without formally or purposefully intending to do so. And that’s so important, because as a leader you have to be cognizant that everything you do— people are watching you. Your team is learning how you move, your intent, your motives, your priorities—everything!—just by watching you be you. As a leader, you have to have that awareness and accept that responsibility.”

Two men are among those who helped shape her approach to leadership within the imaging field.

“My previous manager/director mentor team of Patrick Cook and Jeff Behneke were grooming me to be a leader, long before I knew it,” Myers said.

“I started working for them as a staff nuclear medicine tech and, little-bylittle, they began giving me projects to work on while walking me through it, guiding me, and then small amounts of responsibility within the department.

They watched me grow and develop my skills as a technologist, and they started to trust me to take on more tasks of my own. When the lead tech position opened, I wasn’t sure that it was for me, but Patrick encouraged me to apply. I’ve always taken pride in my work, and by then, I knew I was a great technologist, but did that make me a leader?”

The vocalization of support boosted her confidence.

“Knowing I had their support when I needed it, but allowing me the independence to make decisions on my own, helped me to gain the confidence I needed to develop my own leadership skills,” Myers recalled.

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

Mary Myers is seen with the CT and nuclear medicine team at Winchester Medical Center.

“They acknowledged me as a force before I knew I wanted to be. And the more space they gave me to grow, the more I wanted! Then, when I was approached for a promotion to the operations manager position, I felt the confidence I needed to take on a role of that magnitude, because of their constant encouragement over the years. They were always in my corner, and still are. I don’t hesitate to call on them whenever I need a hand, or a listening ear.”

Now, Myers is focused on paying it forward.

“I’d like to think that I’m mentoring, in some capacity, all of my team. Whether it’s on how to be a team player, how to make difficult decisions, how to be a good communicator, or how to develop relationships with others; I hope that my team is learning from me each step of the way,” she said. “I do have a few techs who have shown a natural potential to lead others, and I have been purposeful in my intent to help them to develop those skills by empowering them to take ownership of departmental concerns and allowing them the opportunity to act on them using their own best judgement. With consistent encouragement but allowing others the space to make their own decisions, letting them make mistakes and learn from them, really has helped our team to build trust and confidence within each other. I choose not to ‘manage’ the way every single thing is done, but rather to allow the team to take ownership of the department and help to guide them towards the right solution.”

When asked to describe her approach to leadership her experiences serve as a template.

“To be a good leader, you have to be somebody worth following. First and foremost, I’m a tech. I loved my career as a nuc med tech, and still do! I like to be hands-on in the department,” she said. “My desire to lead started on the floor in the

MARY MYERS

BS, CNMT, is the operations manager of CT, PET and nuclear medicine 1. What is the last book you read? Or, what book are you reading currently? Last night, kid’s choice—“Pete the Cat and his Magic Sunglasses”.

2. Favorite movie? “The Great Gatsby” 3. What is something most of your coworkers don’t know about you? I have a paralyzing fear of bats

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department, and that’s where it continues to grow. In a health care setting especially, the most important thing you can have in a department is trust; trust within your team, and their trust in you to lead them. And that has to come from building a solid working relationship, right on the front line. Once you build that trust, everything else feels easy. When I’m having a difficult day, I always find myself back on the floor. Being right in the thick of things helps to keep you grounded, and remind you of what’s important, and why you’re here. Going back to the beginning, working alongside the team, taking care of patients helps to keep things in perspective. Then, when you get back to making what you thought were difficult decisions, or having those crucial conversations, responding to a few dozen emails, it doesn’t feel so tough.”

Her journey into leadership started thanks to an academic advisor.

“I started out on my university’s pre-professional track to get a BS in natural science without a clear career-path in mind,” Myers said. “While meeting with my academic advisor, she mentioned nuclear medicine as a profession. I had no clue what it was, but didn’t have anything else in mind, either. I just knew I loved science and people; how do you make a career out of that? I signed up to shadow a technologist at the local hospital, and applied for the nuclear medicine program the next day!”

Along with being a successful imaging professional, Myers is also a successful parent. She says that is among her greatest achievements.

“As a young, career-focused female, attempting to excel at work, while trying to maintain a personal life has been most-daunting. Working a physically demanding job through two pregnancies is no easy feat! Then, staying on top of my game while being out on maternity leave, and then attempting to pick right back up where I left off upon my return was no cake-walk, either,” Myers said. “Even now, trying to be successful at work, a present mother, a supportive wife, maintain friendships, get seven hours of sleep, call my parents at least once a week—it’s exhausting! I couldn’t do any of it without the constant encouragement from my husband and my family; I really have one of the best! I’m still working on my greatest accomplishment, but I hope it’s that I was able to have a successful career, while raising two great kids, while not ending up on an episode of ‘Snapped.’ ” Her family includes supportive husband, Lee, and their two sons, Major and Rygin. •

4. What is one thing you do every morning to start your day? On workdays, I tip toe out of the house without waking the whole family up so that we can all start our day without a “Mommy’s leaving Meltdown” 5. Best advice you ever received? Pick your battles, not everything deserves a reaction.

6. Who has had the biggest influence on your life? Definitely my parents. They are both incredibly supportive.

7. What would your superpower be? Telepathy

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SPOTLIGHT

RISING

STAR HOUMAN HAYATGHEYB (TONY HAYAT)

H

Houman Hayatgheyb (Tony Hayat) plans to become an MRI manager.

ouman Hayatgheyb (Tony Hayat) began making an impression on imaging professionals while still in college.

Elena Danilova, BS, R.T. (MR) (ARRT), is currently the executive director of clinical development at Gurnick Academy. Previously, she served as an instructor and it was during that time that Hayat began to stand out among his peers.

“Tony was my MRI student,” Danilova said. “He always wanted to learn more and stayed in touch after graduation. Tony is ethical and professional. He took my advice and finished his bachelor’s degree at Gurnick Academy as well. Upon graduation, Tony was hired by the company where he finished his clinical training. Soon, he became a lead MRI technologist that covers a few imaging sites.

Now, Tony is happily employed by Stanford University as an MRI technologist. I have confidence in Tony’s skills and ethics and see his abilities to become a great leader.”

ICE magazine learned more about this this MRI technologist at Stanford Healthcare during an interview.

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ICEMAGAZINE | MAY 2022

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

Q: WHERE DID YOU GROW UP? OR, WHERE ARE YOU FROM? A: I am originally from Iran. My parents immigrated to the U.S. in 1984 and I grew up in San Jose, California.

Q: WHERE DID YOU RECEIVE YOUR IMAGING TRAINING/EDUCATION? WHAT DEGREES/CERTIFICATIONS DO YOU HAVE? A: I completed my associate’s degree in MRI with Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts at its San Mateo, California campus and further continued my education with a bachelor’s degree in diagnostic medical imaging (management) from Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts at the Concord, California campus I am A.R.R.T. R.T. (M.R.) certified.

Q: HOW DID YOU FIRST DECIDE TO START WORKING IN IMAGING? A: I decided to pursue a career in imaging because of a friend who also works in imaging.

Q: WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO GET INTO THIS FIELD? A: I spent quite a bit of time in sales/retail. I decided to go back to school and get my degrees and switch to the medical industry so I can have a more fulfilling career.

Q: WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR POSITION? A: I like working with people in general and that helped me tremendously in sales/retail. What I like most about my current path is that I get to help and comfort people in their most sensitive, precarious, pivotal and important stages in life and health. It is a real moment of truth.

Q: WHAT INTERESTS YOU THE MOST ABOUT THE IMAGING FIELD? A: What interests me most about the imaging field is the technology we use to deliver sound and precise diagnosis. So much has changed in the last 25 years with the aid of advanced science and technology. The software and hardware improvements have made some amazing things possible.

Q: WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT IN YOUR FIELD THUS FAR? A: My greatest accomplishments thus far has been my ability to train and educate the new students during their clinical rotations to MRI in a pivotal time in their career and education.

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Q: WHAT GOALS DO YOU HAVE FOR YOURSELF IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS? A: My goal in the next 5 years is to become MRI manager/administrator in a hospital setting. I believe I can be helpful in correcting the current lack of supply versus existing demand disparity that exists in the MR department. I believe everyone deserves the dignity of health and health care with a proper diagnosis and should not have to wait and live with pain or anxiety for weeks at a time awaiting an appointment. •

FUN FACTS FAVORITE HOBBY: Holiday workouts such as “Murph” done in a group setting with my friends at a local gym.

FAVORITE SHOW: Most recently it was “Game of Thrones” FAVORITE FOOD: Gourmet Sabzi FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: Avila Beach and the Lost Sierras 1 THING ON YOUR BUCKET LIST: Take my wife to Paris (Texas) and say, “See? We did it!”

Kidding of course, I would like to try an open mic night at a comedy club.

SOMETHING YOUR CO-WORKERS DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU: My passion for old cars and motorcycles.

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SPOTLIGHT

BY MORRIS PANNER

IT’S TIME TO MOVE PATIENT IMAGES ONLINE

T

here are apps for banking and depositing checks. Most of us have e-billing for virtually every utility. Even health care portals give you easy access to medical records and appointment scheduling. Online prescription refill requests have become the norm. Practically all aspects of our personal and professional lives can be handled online, yet we are still using CDs to share vital health records and images.

Four out of five health care organizations still use CDs to transfer medical imaging. Why haven’t more health care providers moved their imaging online? For one thing, old habits die hard. There is also fear of the unknown and concerns about compatibility and security. These concerns ignore the vast benefits that could be achieved if CDs were retired, and the medical profession fully adopted electronic image transfer solutions. It’s time to #ditchthedisk.

CD CHALLENGES If a patient has an X-ray, MRI or CT scan, they’ll most likely be handed a CD of their images to take to follow-up appointments or referrals, even though the vast majority of providers (90%) want to eliminate this practice because they think it hinders patient care.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that so many providers want to eliminate the use of CDs for image transfer, especially as it relates to cost, time and resources. On average, practices spend about 85 days per year on CD-related tasks – from uploading and burning CDs to matching patient data. About three-quarters of health care administrators noted that eliminating CD-related tasks would improve job satisfaction. In addition, thousands of dollars could be saved annually if CDs were eliminated and cloud-based imaging solutions were adopted. In fact, hospitals spend as much as $15 per CD, according to health care execu-

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tives, and courier costs can exceed $100,000 per year for some health systems.

The use of this arcane physical method of data sharing also comes at a cost to patients. Providers believe that reliance on CDs is detrimental to patient care. This is particularly true for trauma patients, half of whom have at least one CT before they’re transferred. There can be up to a 25-minute delay in treating trauma patients if doctors at a receiving facility have to rely on uploading images from a CD upon patient arrival rather than assessing the images online in advance. This delay was such a concern that in 2014, the American College of Surgeons made it a requirement that Level I and II trauma centers needed to have the ability to view radiographic imaging from referring hospitals.

BREAKING FREE FROM THE MEDICAL IMAGE SHARING STATUS QUO Despite the desire from health care professionals and patients alike to change the status quo of CD usage for medical image sharing, there are still several factors holding back widespread adoption of online images: • Providers have limited time to learn a new system for image review: Today’s health care providers are overwhelmed with busy practices and dealing with the fallout from COVID-19 and deferred care. They have neither the time nor the resources to learn a new technology to review images. Fortunately, cloud-based medical imaging sharing solutions are designed to be easy to use and, once adopted, can shave hours of administrative time out of their day, enabling better overall patient care and outcomes.

• Patients want control: More than 80% of patients say they want access to their imaging along with test results. However, one in three patients reported that they cannot easily access their medical records – and if they can, there’s often a wait of up to three days to do so. Further, despite requesting this

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

access to their imaging, many patients – particularly older ones – are accustomed to having and holding the physical CD and transporting it from the radiology department to their provider or specialist to ensure it’s “secure.” In reality, this is often not the case.

CDs are easily forgotten, lost or damaged. As patients themselves continue to become more digitally savvy, there will be even higher expectations for having real-time accessibility of medical imaging.

• Many systems lack interoperability, and transmitting information between them isn’t secure: Providers hesitant to embrace cloud-based medical imaging sharing often argue that other solutions – such as diagnostic systems – won’t accept electronic transfers.

Or, there may be issues with using different formats, data structures or languages that could prevent integration and open up security gaps. It’s important to select a medical imaging provider that offers a secure, vendor-neutral solution designed to meet the needs of the entire organization. The benefits of adopting modern technologies that are easily integrated, including cloud-based imaging systems, are

well documented. They reduce administrative burden; make providers more efficient, which eases burnout; reduce error and prevent redundant imaging exams.

There is no longer time for excuses. Online services have proven their value in all aspects of our lives – from managing our finances to managing our personal health. Businesses have been transformed by the adoption of cloud-based services, reducing costs, increasing efficiencies and improving customer satisfaction. It’s time for medical imaging professionals to #ditchthedisk, rise up and ensure that both providers and patients benefit from the secure, timely electronic transfer of information.• – Morris Panner is the president of Intelerad Medical Systems. He served as CEO of Ambra Health from 2011 until its acquisition by Intelerad in 2021. He is an active voice in the cloud and enterprise software arena, focused on the services and health care verticals.

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Of

SPOTLIGHT

THE

Clock

KITT SHAFFER, MD, PH.D., FACR

BY MATT SKOUFALOS

F

or Kitt Shaffer, MD, Ph.D., FACR, art has always been a major part of her life. Growing up in a family that supported and enabled her creative endeavors, Shaffer was making jewelry in junior high, and netting awards for her realistic paintings and figure drawing by high school. But in medical school, when all her time was occupied by the work of completing her professional education, those creative efforts largely went by the wayside.

As she entered the medical field, however, Shaffer slowly found herself recapturing those modes of expression that she had so dearly missed, starting with pastels and moving into watercolors. As her career advanced, Shaffer was able to establish a dedicated studio space that could support the more resource-intensive pursuits of oil painting and ceramics. Today, her favorite source of inspiration is the natural environment of her southeastern Massachusetts community of Westport.

“We love it down here,” Shaffer said. “I have an endless supply of beautiful landscapes – salt marshes and ocean views, and forests and beaches. I’m captivated by the view around me wherever I am, and sometimes I incorporate some of the landscape in decorative projects, like painted furniture or ceramics, as well as drawings and paintings.”

“I do a lot of hiking with my husband,” she said. “I used to do a lot of photography, but pastels are a much more rewarding way of capturing the moment. You can have a conversation while you’re drawing, but not really when you’re snapping photos.”

Although Shaffer has sold her works, she prefers to focus on the personal, expressive nature of her art rather than using it as a commercial outlet. Some of her projects might become gifts for friends; most live on as a physical manifestation of the time she spends processing the world around her.

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“It’s a renewal thing,” Shaffer said. “I think the medical field is such a stressful one, so many people need an outlet that is more calming. [It’s about] having a concrete situation where you can do something and see the result. In radiology, we do a lot of things, but we don’t see the result right away. You can go a whole day and wonder, ‘Have I done anything?’ When you make a piece of art, it’s there in front of you.”

Shaffer has contributed to the Art Days annual art exhibition at the Boston University Medical Campus, where she is a professor of radiology and anatomy and neurobiology.

The exhibition ranges from fine and performing arts to metalwork, music and fiber arts. Although she enjoys participating in the event and exploring the work of her peers and colleagues, Shaffer doesn’t limit herself to merging art and medical imaging only in gallery spaces. For years, she’s incorporated the visual arts into her educational curriculum as a medical imaging educator.

“There’s a long history of art in anatomy, maybe even more than in radiology,” Shaffer said. “And then I realize, when I look back on my own education, I did a lot of drawing just taking notes; making my own little diagrams of the things I saw and the things I thought were important. I think that’s a useful way for people to learn.”

Shaffer described punctuating her classroom instruction with tasks whereby students were given medical images of CT studies that they were invited to annotate, upload and discuss in class. She said the process helped connect her students to the thinking behind making diagnoses based on their abstractions from the images before them in a way that other teaching modes didn’t communicate.

“Didactic lecturing is not a very effective way to teach,” Shaffer said. “While I’m doing these drawings on my website, I’m calling on people, making them come up with where they think the finding is, and making them come up with a diagnosis. That has a number of educational consequences. The person on the hot seat is sweating it, but everyone else is activated too; they’re all thinking about it ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

Kitt Shaffer says creating art provides an escape from the stress of her work.

instead of checking their emails.”

Shaffer herself gets in on the act during class; she started with dry erase markers and alcohol wipes before graduating to a digital toolkit. From there, Shaffer worked through teaching in Adobe Photoshop, supplemented by various peripheral devices, from Wacom drawing tablets to monitors and more. She described the process as “powerful and flexible, but cumbersome and fraught with peril.”

“I had to carry around a rolling bag of connectors to make sure I could do it; I couldn’t really do it standing up at a podium,” Shaffer said. “When I would travel around the country and tell them, ‘I’m not going to use PowerPoint,’ it was like I said I would be teaching naked. [Eventually] I had a student build me a website that I can WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM

use with all the drawing tools I want, and started using an iPad to teach, which was much easier. I also use that website to design freestanding educational modules.”

Shaffer admits that, even as her approach to integrating artistry and imaging education has become more streamlined, there’s always a percentage of the student body who say her class was either the best or worst learning experience they’ve had. But beyond teaching them how to connect with the visual arts in their careers, it also gave them a taste of what it feels like to face the pressures of a diagnostic career.

“People were often intimidated by the idea that they might be called on, but people in the medical field need to realize that this is their life,” Shaffer

said. “They are going to have to be called on; they are going to have to have the answers, and they should practice this in a relatively lowstress setting. They have to become comfortable with uncertainty because that’s a big part of medicine.”

Today Shaffer continues to make artwork in the Westport studio that she’s establishing as an offshoot of her home there. She hopes to eventually return to traveling abroad, particularly to Italy, where she’s had some of her most productive creative experiences. As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic abates in intensity, Shaffer continues to seek out those moments of beauty that strike her in the natural world, all the better to capture them in her work.• ICEMAGAZINE

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Imaging News

A LOOK AT WHAT’S CHANGING IN THE IMAGING INDUSTRY

ICE2023 IMAGING CONFERENCE & EXPO FEBRUARY 17-19, 2023 • NASHVILLE, TN

ICE 2023 SET FOR MUSIC CITY

Dust off your cowboy boots, ICE 2023 will two-step into Tennessee next year. The annual Imaging Conference & Expo is set for February 17-19, 2023, at the Renaissance Nashville.

The annual Imaging Conference & Expo is a can’t-miss event for imaging professionals to network with colleagues, obtain continuing education credits and learn about the latest solutions via a top-flight exhibit hall. ICE 2023 is free for all hospital employees, students and active members of the military. Registration is available at AttendICE.com.

Along with an exclusive ICE18 leadership summit, ICE 2023 features a jam-packed schedule. Educational oppor-

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tunities include the option to add a CRES Study Group and Prep Class in addition to the free continuing education sessions.

Leadership summit attendees will also participate in a reverse expo. All attendees and exhibitors are invited to the exhibit hall grand opening welcome reception, keynote address and the finale party! The conference is currently accepting proposals to present at the conference. • For more information, including discounted room rates, visit AttendICE.com and register today.

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NEWS

KONICA MINOLTA HEALTHCARE HIGHLIGHTS CLINICAL ADVANCEMENTS At the 2022 annual meeting of the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas Inc. showcased its array of orthopedic and musculoskeletal (MSK) imaging and information management solutions, including the award-winning Dynamic Digital Radiography (DDR) technology.

“Konica Minolta is committed to furthering clinical research, demonstrating the clinical value and positive impact to patient care of its technologies,” according to a news release.

At this year’s meeting, there were several presentations in the scientific program highlighting clinical use cases of DDR. Eric R. Wagner, MD, assistant professor and director of upper extremity research at Emory University School of Medicine, discussed how dynamic radiographic assessment of upper extremities in motion improves the diagnosis of shoulder pathology and postoperative assessment. Wagner has been the lead researcher in using DDR to assess shoulder function and has made DDR the standard of care in his practice. He also discussed how DDR is used to assess and quantify motion for a range of clinical conditions, including rotator cuff tears, adhesive capsulitis, shoulder arthroplasties and arthritis.

“DDR is the next evolution in X-ray, enabling clinicians to visualize the physiological motion of joints, extremities and the spine as a patient moves through the full range of motion. DDR is not fluoroscopy, it is a series of individual digital images acquired at high speed and low dose on the KDR Advanced U-Arm, a fully automated digital radiography system. In the same study, clinicians can acquire static and dynamic images. The resulting cine loop provides

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visualization of the dynamic relationship of anatomical structures in a diagnostic-quality view,” the release states.

Konica Minolta also featured the SONIMAGE HS2, an advanced compact ultrasound system optimized for MSK imaging. It is designed to help clinicians address an array of clinical applications in MSK, vascular, pain management, interventional and orthobiologics.

“For secure and fast viewing of orthopedic images from anywhere – the clinic, bedside or surgical suite – Exa Ortho delivers exceptional performance and functionality designed for orthopedic practices,” according to the release. “Measurement tools, templating and pre-operative planning are all accessible with any web-enabled device through the Exa Zero Footprint Viewer. Server-side rendering assures quick access to all images from any modality regardless of file size. Cybersecurity is enhanced with Exa Ortho because no data is transferred to or stored on workstations to minimize unwanted exposure of patient data.”

“Reaching new heights in orthopedic surgery includes having access to the latest innovations in imaging and information management solutions. At Konica Minolta, we’ve developed advanced technologies such as DDR, MSK ultrasound and ortho-specific image management solutions that help clinicians achieve more productivity and clinical insights,” says Kirsten Doerfert, senior vice president of marketing, Konica Minolta Healthcare. “Our partnerships with leaders in the orthopedic and MSK fields help us rethink today to redefine tomorrow and deliver ground-breaking solutions in medical imaging and IT. Our goal is to support our customers and the orthopedic community in achieving better outcomes for their patients.” •

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

CANON MEDICAL SYSTEMS USA PRESENTS U.S. MOBILE TRUCK TOUR Canon Medical Systems USA Inc. (CMSU), a global leader in innovative diagnostic imaging technology, has announced its first-ever U.S. mobile tour, Canon Across America, through December 2, 2022.

“CMSU will bring its state-of-the-art AI medical devices to hospitals and local health care providers in a unique hands-on experience to create stronger community engagement throughout the year,” according to a news release.

CMSU’s 50-city mobile tour kicked off in its Tustin, California headquarters and will travel across the country. The Canon Across America mobile truck tour aims to provide health care professionals and hospitals across the U.S. the opportunity to connect with Canon’s innovative solution-focused portfolios at a hands-on level by providing a holistic 360-degree view of their solutions.

In addition, Canon will provide live demos, supportive conversations with Canon’s industry experts, and an opportunity to experience the benefits Canon’s platforms offer at their convenience.

“Providing in-person experiences with current and new customers is key for us as a company. It’s a vital opportunity to connect, ask pressing questions in a face-to-face setting, and to learn more about better servicing their needs,” said David Hashimoto, vice president of marketing and sales strategy. “We’re allowing unprecedented access to our technologies to better guide health care professionals with the essential information needed to make important decisions about their patients and business.”

Yuji Hamada, president and CEO of Canon Medical Systems USA, agrees.

“Canon’s 50-city tour is a unique opportunity for health care professionals to gain access to personalized demos.

The next generation of medical imaging allows us to provide our customers flexible visits with Canon’s reps and to focus on key areas of interest important to them. We look forward to this year-long journey of meeting our customers, friends, and colleagues and showcasing the very best that Canon has to offer,” Hamada said. •

No-Risk Transducer Repair Services If your ultrasound transducer is deemed beyond repair at any point, you will not be charged for the repair attempt.

www.mysummitimaging.com

Call: 866-586-3744

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NEWS

UNITED IMAGING RECEIVES VIZIENT CONTRACT United Imaging has received a contract from Vizient Inc., for its entire portfolio of DR (X-ray) and magnetic resonance (MR) systems. The contract expands the number of modalities offered through Vizient by United Imaging, which last year also received a contract for its suite of cutting-edge CT (computed tomography) equipment.

Vizient is the largest member-driven health care performance improvement company in the country with a diverse membership base that includes academic medical centers, pediatric facilities, community hospitals, integrated health delivery networks and nonacute health care providers and represents more than $110 billion in annual purchasing volume.

United Imaging takes a highly vertically integrated approach to innovation to help manage both quality and costs and enable the most cutting-edge technology across all its modalities. In addition, the company’s bold approach to the U.S. market includes several unique aspects. “All-in Configurations” means that its systems are sold fully loaded with all available features included from the outset, giving customers the flexibility to immediately or in the future provide advanced offerings to patients without additional upgrade costs. “Software Upgrades for Life” refers

to the company’s commitment to provide the latest software upgrades throughout the product lifecycle across its entire installed base at no additional cost to the health care provider, helping them provide the highest standards of care. United Imaging also offers a “United Performance Guarantee” on all full-service agreements, flexible coverage options for in-house biomedical engineer organizations and customized financing solutions to streamline buying and owning medical equipment.

“We are excited to receive another contract with Vizient,” said Jeffrey M. Bundy, Ph.D., CEO of United Imaging Healthcare Solutions. “Through this contract, we hope to help more health care organizations improve the quality of their patient care.” •

FUJIFILM SONOSITE FILES PATENT INFRINGEMENT LAW SUIT FUJIFILM Sonosite Inc. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Butterfly Network in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

FUJIFILM has asserted seven patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 7,169,108; 7,867,168; 8,128,050; 8,861,822; 9,538,985; 6,901,157; and 8,360,981) pertaining to fundamental technologies for acquiring ultrasound images at the point of care with portable handheld systems. The patents cover various aspects of point of care ultrasound solutions, including the use of a probe coupled to a mobile device, elements of the graphical interface, as well as aspects related to the processing and display of ultrasound images.

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FUJIFILM Sonosite is seeking remedies including damages related to Butterfly Network’s infringement through its unauthorized use, manufacture, marketing, promotion and sale of Butterfly Network’s IQ/IQ+ POCUS products.

“FUJIFILM Sonosite is committed to protecting its significant investments in resources and R&D, and in bringing novel technologies to clinicians for the ultimate benefit of improved patient care,” said Rich Fabian, president and COO, FUJIFILM Sonosite Inc. “We will enforce and protect our intellectual property rights in the United States and around the world when we believe others infringe on it unfairly.” •

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

SPECIAL REPORT

Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2022

ECRI: STAFFING SHORTAGES, MENTAL HEALTH AMONG TOP THREATS TO PATIENT SAFETY Staffing shortages top a list of patient safety concerns released by ECRI, the nation’s largest nonprofit patient safety organization.

While the annual list is typically dominated by clinical issues caused by device malfunctions or medical errors, ECRI researchers say the most significant concerns at present are caused by crises that have simmered, but COVID-19 exponentially worsened.

“Shortages in the health care workforce and mental health challenges were broadly known and well-documented for years,” said Marcus Schabacker, MD, Ph.D., president and CEO of ECRI. “Both physicians and nurses were at risk of burnout, emotional exhaustion and depression prior to 2020, but the pandemic made both issues significantly worse.”

While both trends were known, their effect on patient care was not well documented. Now, ECRI researchers say inadequate staffing is actively jeopardizing patient safety.

Due to staffing shortages, many patients are waiting longer for care, even in life-threatening emergencies, or simply being turned away.

With reports of more health care workers planning on leaving the industry, ECRI experts say patients could face even higher risks without proactive solutions. Without intervention, the chaos and understaffing in hospitals and other health care settings seen over the last two years could become the new normal for the foreseeable future.

“Health care and government leaders now must aggressively manage these challenges amidst a lingering pandemic and a weakened health system by prioritizing recruitment, retention and clinician resilience,” Schabacker

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said. “As leaders, their most important job is ensuring that patient health and safety are top priorities.”

“ECRI’s report is a roadmap to help prioritize patient safety initiatives and allocate necessary resources that accelerates organizations in their total system approach to safety,” said Brigitta Mueller, MD, executive director of patient safety, risk and quality at ECRI. “We are here to help health care and government leaders as they finally address these longstanding issues in a comprehensive, forward-thinking way.”

To identify the most pressing patient safety threats, ECRI analyzed a wide scope of data, including scientific literature, patient safety events or concerns reported to or investigated by ECRI, client research requests and queries, and other internal and external data sources.

ECRI’s top 10 patient safety concerns for 2022 are: 1. Staffing shortages 2. COVID-19 effects on health care workers’ mental health 3. Bias and racism in addressing patient safety 4. Vaccine coverage gaps and errors 5. Cognitive biases and diagnostic error 6. Nonventilator health care-associated pneumonia 7. Human factors in operationalizing telehealth 8. International supply chain disruptions 9. Products subject to emergency use authorization 10. Telemetry monitoring ECRI’s Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for 2022 report provides detailed steps that organizations can take to prevent adverse incidents and is available for download. • For more information, visit ecri.org.

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NEWS NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS EXPANDS AMBIENT AI CAPABILITIES Nuance Communications Inc. has expanded its next-generation ambient AI capabilities for diagnostic imaging, according to a news release.

The expanded capabilities will include enhanced AI-powered reporting features in the Nuance PowerScribe platform that will empower radiologists to create highly accurate reports in less time and with more clinically valuable structured data, the release states.

“The need for innovation in radiology interpretation and reporting is pressing, with more than one-third of imaging professionals reporting burnout. In some states, the population of patients in need of imaging services outpaces available radiologists by more than 25 percent, according to U.S. Census Data. This is driving a greater supply and demand imbalance in the radiology workforce,” the release reads.

“As an industry leader and pioneer in speech and language understanding for over 20 years, Nuance is tackling this challenge head-on,” it adds.

With the Nuance PowerScribe platform, radiologists can focus on image interpretation instead of the mechanics of report creation. In Nuance PowerScribe One today, Ambient Mode uses advanced AI running in the Microsoft Azure cloud to enable radiologists to dictate in a completely free-form, unstructured and narrative manner while in the background ambient AI technologies create a fully structured report. At the same time, ambient AI analyzes the report text while it is dictated looking for common errors, and whether clinical guidelines apply, to help the radiologist create higher quality reports. Later this year, ambient AI capabilities will also include advanced Auto Impression functionality that will automatically turn report findings into generated impression sections and follow-up recommendations, creating even more efficiencies for radiologists.

PowerScribe Ambient Mode uses the same deep learning technology that powers the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX), a solution that captures multi-party patient encounters and automatically creates clinical documentation thereby reducing administrative burdens on clinicians while simultaneously improving patient experience. PowerScribe Ambient Mode delivers a high degree of AI accuracy because of Nuance’s decades of radiology reporting experience and its highly secure and trusted stewardship of radiology data spanning thousands of radiologists’ interpretation styles, enabling high performance and native integration into the PowerScribe workflow.”

“Nuance’s PowerScribe reporting solution has been the trusted diagnostic reporting solution for over 80% of all radiologists because of the AI-powered capabilities and benefits it delivers on a daily basis in a very demanding clinical environment,” said Peter Durlach, chief strategy officer at Nuance Communications. “With Ambient Mode, Nuance is bringing the next level of advanced AI to radiology reporting so that radiologists can gain greater efficiencies from auto structuring and auto impression functionality.”

“Ensuring our radiologists have the best and most efficient diagnostic reporting system is critical to our organization’s success and vital to patient care,” said Keith J. Dreyer, DO, Ph.D., chief data science officer, and vice chairman of radiology at Mass General Brigham. “We have relied on PowerScribe for almost two decades because of the consistent, high-level support, performance, and AI capabilities that we have received from Nuance, and we are extremely excited to leverage the full array of ambient functionality, including auto impression generation, so we can accelerate care delivery and help combat radiologist burnout.” •

CLINCHOICE NAMES CALYX PREFERRED PARTNER Calyx has been named a preferred provider of medical imaging and eClinical solutions by ClinChoice, a fullservice clinical research organization (CRO).

“We chose to partner with Calyx due to their tenured scientific, medical and technical teams who possess a depth and diversity of experience in providing reliable data outcomes,” said Tiepu Liu, president, global biometrics, ClinChoice. “We’re pleased to name Calyx a preferred partner and know our customers will benefit from their proven approach to optimizing clinical research.”

ClinChoice is committed to providing deep domain

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experience through reliable partnerships in support of clinical research trials around the world. As part of this partnership, ClinChoice will offer Calyx’s Medical Imaging and eClinical solutions to its pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and consumer product clients.

“We’re honored that ClinChoice chose to partner with Calyx,” said John Blakeley, chief commercial officer of Calyx. “We look forward to a long relationship and to delivering the high-quality solutions and reliable services their worldwide customers have come to expect from this leading CRO.” •

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

IMAGING BIOMETRICS TOUTS POSITION PAPER Imaging Biometrics LLC (IB), a subsidiary of IQ-AI Limited announced the publication of a review authored by international scientists about the use of advanced MRI techniques in Europe.

The paper, published in Frontiers in Oncology, was written by a team of clinicians, engineers and physicists working on behalf of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Glioma MR Imaging 2.0 (GLiMR) Initiative. It consisted of a comprehensive review of advanced MRI techniques used for monitoring treatment response in high-grade brain tumors currently practiced in Europe. The authors of the study concluded that dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MRI is the most proven of all advanced methods. IB’s software modules, IB Neuro and IB DCE, provide solutions for analysis of this data, with examples from each included in the paper.

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The study acknowledged the limitations and challenges presented with conventional MRI and specifically noted the quantitative technology contained in IB Neuro termed “standardization.” This exclusive technology is built into IB Neuro and automatically generates standardized relative cerebral blood volume (sRCBV) maps. And, as the paper cites, IB Neuro’s sRCBV has demonstrated greater consistency and improved repeatability over inherently variable and manual “tissue normalization” approaches.

“Standardization is significant because it allows for direct comparison between scans independent of MR scanner platform, field strength or patient,” said Michael Schmainda, CEO of IB. “This paper nicely summarizes the advancements made over the years in advanced MRI techniques, and we are pleased that the sRCBV technology available in IB Neuro was highlighted.” •

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PRODUCTS

Market Report CT MARKET APPRA O CHES $8 BILLI ON STAFF REPORT

T

he computed tomography (CT) market size is expected to be valued at $7.5 billion in 2022, according to a report from Mordor Intelligence. The report projects the market will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.76% from 2022 to 2027.

“The increasing number of COVID-19 cases has increased the demand for CT scanners, which is expected to impact the CT market positively. For instance, in June 2020, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) launched a 16-slice mobile CT scanner in the United Arab Emirates for diagnosing pneumonia in COVID-19 patients, indicating that developing countries are using CT scanners for the detection of COVID-19. As per an article titled ‘Chest CT features and their role in COVID-19’, published in June 2020, CT examination played an important auxiliary role in the diagnosis and subsequent management of COVID-19 patients.

CT scans can reduce the chance of false-negative results in the RT-PCR assay. These findings led to increased demand for CT scans in the country during COVID-19. ​Governments worldwide are adopting policy measures to reduce the transmission of COVID-19, which is further decreasing the demand for imaging independent of COVID-19. Measures taken by hospitals for expanding crisis capacity are further reducing the amount of appropriate medical imaging that can be safely performed,” the report reads.​ CT scans are considered the most critical diagnostics tool, especially for lung cancer and traumatic brain injuries, the report adds.

“The prevalence of these diseases is boosting the market’s growth. Other market drivers are the rising geriatric population, increasing chronic diseases, shifting medical care toward image-guided interventions and technological advancements,” according to the report.

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Chest Physicians in July 2020, lung cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers. It accounts for 11.6% of the total cancer cases globally. Worldwide lung cancer incidents are estimated to increase by 38%, to 2.89 million, by 2030. According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) 2019, one in three women and one in five men aged 50 years and above sustain osteoporosis-related fractures. Approximately 200 million people are affected by osteoporosis worldwide, resulting in a fracture every three seconds.​A CT scan provides 3D images of bones and helps in better diagnosis and surgeries for orthopedics.

Thus, with the rising burden of orthopedic disorders, the demand for CT scanners is also expected to grow.”

Many collaborations, partnerships and agreements are also taking place in the market.

“For instance, in December 2020, JSCN Medical Clinic LP and Siemens Healthineers Canada collaborated to open a diagnostic imaging center in Canada. The center will be equipped with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer tomography (CT), X-rays and ultrasound. Such initiatives by various organizations are expected to influence the market’s growth. However, a lack of adequate reimbursement and stringent regulatory framework is expected to hinder the market’s growth,” the report reads.

“The North America computed tomography (CT) market is expected to register a CAGR of around 6% during the forecast period, 2018 to 2023. Computed tomography (CT) is primarily used in the cancer diagnosis process. In addition to its use in cancer, CT is widely used to help diagnose circulatory (blood) system diseases and conditions such as coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis), blood vessel aneurysms, and blood clots, spinal conditions, kidney and bladder stones, abscesses, inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis and sinusitis, and injuries to the head, skeletal system, and internal organs. CT can be a life-saving tool for diagnosing illness and injury in both children and adults,” according to a Market Watch press release issued on March 24, 2022.• ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

PRODUCTS

Product Focus Computed Tomography (CT)

1

GE HEALTHCARE

Revolution Apex platform Offering exceptional clinical capabilities, GE Healthcare’s new Revolution Apex platform1 helps radiology departments stay ahead of the technology curve with a modular design that offers a seamless path to continuous hardware and software scalability and upgradability that will extend the lives of CT systems into the future.1 The industry first2 CT platform with built-in scalability for onsite CT detector upgrades enables users to advance their service line from a 40 mm detector and 0.28 second rotation speed up to a 160 mm detector and 0.23 second per rotation – the world’s fastest gantry speed.1,2,3 All this can be achieved without replacing the gantry2 – helping health care facilities keep up with the latest technology while minimizing technology obsolescence and optimizing clinical capabilities now and in the future.2

1. Product may not be available in all countries and regions and cannot be placed on the market or put into service until it has been made to comply with all required regulatory authorizations.

2. Scalability and upgradability are subject to the availability and compatibility of new capabilities and products.

3. GE Healthcare data on file.

4. 19.5msec effective temporal resolution is achieved by a 6x improvement of motion-blur reduction while maintaining high spatial resolution as demonstrated in cardiac phantom testing. The reduction in motion artifacts is comparable to a 0.039 equivalent gantry rotation speed with effective temporal resolution of 19.5 msec, as demonstrated in mechanical and mathematical phantom testing.

*Disclaimer: Products are listed in no particular order.

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PRODUCTS

2 SIEMENS HEALTHINEERS

UNITED IMAGING UCT 550 Advance

For customers who need to move fast, but who’ve always wanted to expand their clinical capabilities – and who know that simply repairing their computed tomography scanner or replacing it with another used one doesn’t move them forward – the uCT 550 Advance is game changing. United Imaging provides a brand new, powerful, modern 80-slice CT system in up to two weeks from the time of order. Providers who choose the uCT 550 Advance will also see their ROI grow with All-in Configurations, routine maintenance and parts, and Software Upgrades for Life all included at no additional cost.

3

NAEOTOM Alpha Photon-Counting CT Scanner The NAEOTOM Alpha with Quantum Technology from Siemens Healthineers is the world’s first photon-counting computed tomography (CT) scanner and the result of more than 15 years of research and development. Quantum Technology provides four distinct benefits: improved image contrast, higher spatial resolution without the usual dose penalty, complete elimination of electronic noise, and intrinsic spectral sensitivity. The NAEOTOM Alpha combines that Quantum Technology with the company’s Dual Source technology, which provides fast temporal resolution, high scan speeds, and immense power reserves to potentially offer radiologists more insights in every exam, a new level of detail, and the ability to diagnose patients who were previously unscannable.

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ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

4

CT3000 and CT4000 CT Liquid Metal Bearing (LMB) Tubes

5

NEUROLOGICA OmniTom Elite

The world of medical imaging is no longer just black and white. NeuroLogica Corp., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., announced that its state-of-the-art OmniTom Elite has received 510(k) clearance for the addition of Photon Counting Detector (PCD) technology. NeuroLogica delivers the first FDA 510(k) cleared, single-source photon counting computed tomography (CT) scanner with single detector on a mobile system. OmniTom Elite with PCD can generate spectral CT images at multiple energy levels. The OmniTom Elite has the ability to provide versatile, real-time mobile imaging to administer point-of-care CT to critical patients without the need to transport them to a separate imaging department. The mobile unit will decrease the time it takes to diagnose and initiate treatment for these critical patients.

DUNLEE

Dunlee’s CT3000 and CT4000 CT Liquid Metal Bearing (LMB) Tubes support a wide range of imaging applications. The tubes feature CoolGlide, the company’s LMB technology that delivers advanced heat dissipation for continuous scanning and eliminates wait time for anode acceleration between exposures, supporting high patient throughput. LMB tubes are also known for their long life, which is made possible because the liquid metal bearing doesn’t create friction, resulting in less wear on the tubes and an improved patient experience.

STRYKER

6

Airo TruCT Imaging System

Stryker’s Airo TruCT Imaging System, featuring a 32-slice detector and fan beam diagnostic-quality imaging, provides physicians with a clear understanding of the level of disease in the lungs of patients with pulmonary disease, including COVID-19, to aid diagnosis and treatment decisions. Weighing as little as 1,800 pounds, it is compact enough to fit into a standard hospital transport elevator.

Its ability to self-propel during transportation makes it highly mobile, unlike traditional stationary CT imaging systems. Once it reaches the desired location, it can be powered by a standard wall outlet.

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COVER STORY

RURAL COMPLICATIONS Challenges of Delivering Medical Imaging to a Shrinking Population

BY MATT SKOUFALOS

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ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

A

lthough rural America accounts for about 14 percent of the United States, or some 46 million people, it’s a population that’s always been difficult to reach with services, be they transportation, electricity, broadband Internet or health care. As emergent demographic trends now suggest that it’s shrinking even further in the wake of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the challenges of delivering access to the same level of care that Americans in more densely populated areas can reach are growing further complicated.

According to Kenneth M. Johnson, senior demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy and a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, more than two-thirds of all non-metropolitan counties throughout America shed residents from 2010 through 2020, contributing to an overall population loss in those areas for the first time in U.S. history. Johnson attributed the thrust of that decline to “the economic turbulence of the Great Recession and its aftermath” in the earlier part of the decade prior, noting also that “low fertility and higher mortality among the aging rural population” might further compound this downturn.

He further predicts that the outsized impact of COVID-19 in rural communities “may foster even more widespread population loss in the future.” According to the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) at the University of Iowa, the pandemic has claimed more lives per capita in rural America (379.8 deaths per 100,000 people) than in urban counties of the United States (286.2 per 100,000) from April 2020 to April 2022.

“This will increase the incidence of rural depopulation, a downward demographic spiral that is already occurring in 35 percent of rural counties,” Johnson wrote. “Such depopulating rural counties face significant challenges maintaining critical infrastructure

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needed to provide quality health care, education, and a viable economy for the remaining residents.”

Whitney Zahnd, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of health management and policy at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, points out that rural Americans “have persistently faced lower access to health care services, including fewer primary care providers and specialists, and longer travel times to hospitals.” The lack of access “often manifests itself in less utilization of preventive care,” Zahnd said – notably, in cancer screenings, which can leave people in farther-flung regions of the country in worse overall health when they do fall ill.

Moreover, in the past decade, as rural populations have declined, 138 hospitals in those same areas of the country have closed; between 2005 and 2016, 300 others merged or were acquired outright. Zahnd points to a December 2019 study from Health Affairs showing that those mergers have frequently resulted in “a significant reduction in on-site diagnostic imaging technologies,” among other services, including obstetrics, primary care and outpatient nonemergency visits.

“Such depopulating rural counties face significant challenges maintaining critical infrastructure needed to provide quality health care, education, and a viable economy for the remaining residents.”

- Kenneth M. Johnson “Health care systems, particularly those in rural areas, have to consider the financial balance of maintaining a service line, such as radiology, to ensure the viability of their facility,” Zahnd said.

“This may be particularly true in states that have not expanded Medicaid. Hospitals in these areas provide more uncompensated care, which makes these hospitals more vulnerable to closure or mergers and acquisitions, which has a

domino effect on service lines.”

Lisa Davis, director and outreach associate professor of health policy and administration at the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health in University Park, Pennsylvania, said that delivering high-quality health care in community health systems “so that they can keep these services and keep those patients in their communities” has been an ongoing challenge for at least the past 15 years.

“We try to keep patients local because it’s important to the local economy and the local hospital,” Davis said.

“Once that care starts to be provided at a tertiary care facility, there’s a greater likelihood that patients will go to those providers for all types of services than using their local facility.”

As local health care delivery systems are among the top three employers in every county in America, weakening them produces an economic effect that Davis said, “is much more visible in rural counties.” Conversely, a strong health care delivery system makes it easier for other local employers to recruit and retain talent “because they want to be able to show prospective workers that there is a place for people to get really good health care,” she said.

“It’s also a great way to be able to attract providers,” Davis said. “If you are coming to a vibrant health care delivery system, even if it is a small community, that is a way to really see an impact of what you’re doing.”

But for decades, rural hospitals have been challenged in general to recruit physicians, who are necessary not only for their skills, but also for the clinical oversight they provide to support staff, like radiology technicians, as well as specialists and sub-specialists who can perform complicated procedures from image-guided surgeries to oncological treatment planning.

“If you look at the quality indicators across all of the range of services, rural hospitals tend to do quite well on many of the traditional types of services,” Davis said. “Their outcomes are not as good or nonexistent for specialized care because they don’t provide those

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COVER STORY types of services. Workforce is an intractable issue, and it always has been.”

Dr. Mina Makary, an interventional radiologist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, concurred that the challenges rural hospitals face nowadays less commonly revolve around access to imaging technology as compared to shortfalls in staffing.

This trend was identified as late as October 2015, when a study in the journal Radiology illustrated that just 8.1 percent of all practicing radiologists in the United States work in a rural setting.

In four low-population states (Alaska, Montana and the Dakotas) no radiologist was reported to be practicing in any rural setting, and in three others (Nevada, Wyoming and Idaho) two or fewer radiologists were working in a rural setting.

According to physician staffing service Locum Tenens, radiology programs are only growing at 2 percent annually, with 30 percent of new radiologists pursuing sub-specialties that are less likely to be located in rural environments. Radiology also has a high mobility rate, as indicated in a November 2020 report from the Journal of the American College of Radiology, which showed that more than 40 percent of all radiologists in the country have changed practices at least once within the four-year period sampled between 2014 and 2018.

All these underlying circumstances were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which federal reimbursement policies helped accelerate adoption of teleradiology services that somewhat addressed this shortfall in rural environments. However, the months-long shutdown in non-essential imaging services that accompanied the teleradiology expansion also created a backlog of diagnostic exams that even nighthawking can’t resolve on its own.

Furthermore, the impact of the multi-sector Great Resignation – another key hallmark of the pandemic – on medical imaging has yet to be fully calculated; at least initially, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown that nearly 20 percent of health care workers have

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left their jobs in the past two years.

Even if the bulk of these displacements are not to be found among medical imaging professionals, let alone those in the rural setting, it’s another potential shortfall to address in making sure that patients in these locations have access to high-quality health care services.

“Between all these factors good and not as good, it’s stressing our system,” Makary said. “Telework in general, inflation, real estate costs – the resources of the trained radiologist may not be able to catch up with that extra demand. All these things have accelerated because of COVID, and it’s a huge thing. It might affect how we think about health care policy nationally, but the specific trends, the intended or unintended outcomes on health care overall, remain to be seen.

“A lot of privatepractice physicians are affected by the economics of managed care – smaller margins, reimbursement cuts, limited resources to achieve highest level of care” - Dr. Mina Makary “We don’t want to get into a situation where these health care disparities get aggravated any more than they need to,” he said. “There’s a moral standard to strive to achieve. Somebody in a community hospital deserves a high quality of care like anybody else.”

Makary remains bullish on the prospects of teleradiology as a solution to the regional disparities in availability of diagnostic imaging professionals, especially in the context of a group practice setting. Despite the observation that affiliations and mergers can have the unintended effect of reducing local access to imaging services, partnerships among regional health centers, community hospitals and the like can make it easy to get patients to the services they need.

“A lot of private-practice physicians are affected by the economics

of managed care – smaller margins, reimbursement cuts, limited resources to achieve highest level of care,” Makary said. “How do we bridge it?

Local centers of excellence, transport, a team managing that patient.”

“Cleveland Clinic might be headquartered in Cleveland, but it also maintains smaller centers throughout the state,” he said. “There’s University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in Pittsburgh, but they also have a presence in smaller towns, like Altoona, Pennsylvania. Those help bridge that gap; and even if a rural center is not ready, it’s easier to transport a patient within the same system.”

Makary described these agreements as among the most significant byproducts of the persistent, industry-wide consolidation of health care institutions that’s been ongoing for the better part of two decades. He also believes that after the extensive mergers, acquisitions and partner agreements have reached a theoretical limit in densely populated urban environments, competition for community and rural hospitals in more remote settings may be “the last frontier.”

“We can use these relationships to benefit our communities and provide services in rural areas,” Makary said. “It’s the same thing with private-practice groups that go out there: when you partner with a bigger player, you get help with practice-building, resources, partnerships, and being able to ultimately be able to provide those services to regions that are underserved.”

Another persistent health equity issue in rural settings involves addressing the shortfall in access to screening services for certain types of diseases, like breast and lung cancers, outcomes for which improve dramatically with early detection.

Jamie Studts, Ph.D., is a behavioral scientist who co-leads the cancer prevention and control program at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.

He’s also the scientific director of the behavioral oncology program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where he teaches. In Studts’ experience, “the disproportionate burADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

JAMIE STUDTS University of Colorado Cancer Center

LISA DAVIS

Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health

den of people who are eligible for lung cancer screening are rural-residing individuals, and we are at a very low level of public awareness about lung cancer screening.”

“We need regional to local access to lung cancer screening where they do suffer the disproportionate burden, or else we will never leverage lung cancer screening to its potential,” he said.

To date, many of the solutions that have been engineered to overcome this screening deficit have been technological in origin. Demonstration projects have funded the retrofitting of vehicles with breast and lung imaging equipment; they’re then driven into rural communities themselves, effectively bringing the technology into the areas where it’s needed. Studts argues, however, that the same funds that paid for those imaging devices could deliver greater results if they were used instead to build high-quality cancer screening programs in community hospitals.

“A mobile, low-dose CT can only be in one place at a time, and maybe you get hundreds of scans done a year, at best,” he said. “Leverage the brick-andmortar facilities we have at hospitals and train a navigator; those tools are under-utilized. There’s skill involved, but it’s within the wheelhouse of every radiology service. It’s helping them enhance the skills they already have and building the trusted relationships with the community around this modality.”

Beyond overcoming the same personnel deficit that impedes the delivWWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM

DR. MINA MAKARY Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

ery of care throughout rural American communities, Studts argues that the institution of American health care itself must address the feelings of nihilism and fatalism that have made it easier for those at high risk for lung cancer to embrace rather than facing the practical logistical and economic difficulties of getting a screening.

“Tobacco use is a stigmatized condition,” he said. “That has caused not just a rift between the folks we’re trying to serve and these systems, but between clinicians and patients.”

“If you don’t approach tobacco use in an empathic, supportive, compassionate way, why would they trust us to offer them lung cancer screening?” Studts said. “These people have traditionally not been our favorite constituent in our health care system. They don’t have the right insurances, they don’t have the best insurances, they don’t quit smoking, and we’ve been badgering them to do that for 50 years.”

The solution, he argues, is to build approaches that are created around the patients themselves.

“So many folks want to put that CT scanner at the center; even the ones that are more understanding put the navigator at the center,” Studts said.

“The solution is putting the patient at the center of the process to leverage the tools of a CT scanner and the connections we built to make sure we have a workflow for how people get into our screening program, and how we get them the care afterwards.”

WHITNEY ZAHND University of Iowa College of Public Health

In constructing that kind of approach, Davis suggests that the role of the health care community navigator is a potential low-cost way to embrace locals with a knowledge of rural areas and their populations to reach people in “venues that are not health-related,” including churches, service-based organizations like Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs, and other, more informal ways of gathering.

“It is really trying to help the patient care for themselves in their totality,” she said, “and it is absolutely a distinct issue of equity. Communities that have been traditionally underfunded and under-resourced, communities that have been redlined, have had specific difficulties.”

“It takes incremental steps,” Davis said. “We can’t give up.” • REFERENCES 1. https://carsey.unh.edu/publication-rural-america-lost-population-over-past-decade-for-first-time-in-history 2. https://rupri.public-health.uiowa.edu/publications/policybriefs/2020/COVID%20 Longitudinal%20Data.pdf 3. https://www.locumtenens.com/radiology-careers/radiologist-shortage/ 4. https://www.jacr.org/article/S15461440(20)31126-1/fulltext 5. https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/full/10.1148/radiol.2015150921 6. https://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2021/12/16/in-2020-fewer-americansmoved-exodus-from-cities-slowed/ 7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC7004480/

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INSIGHTS

DIRECTOR’S CUT

BY NICOLE DHANRAJ

INCREASE REST ETHIC WITH MOMENTS OF UNPRODUCTIVE PRODUCTIVITY

U

nder “normal” circumstances, imaging leaders are productive junkies. We are busy with quality and safety initiatives, reviewing budgets, leading research, building high reliability organizations, supporting the team, providing patient-centric care, and doing all we can to ensure a productive and efficient operation. It appears that leaders are programmed to work more in our industry or it could be the mere tradition of Western culture to support work alcoholics. More and more, we are tied to our phones and emails 24/7, constantly “on.”

However, imaging leaders in the last three years have faced exponential challenges.

Unfortunately, the current state of health care continues to be daunting. Though I try not to admit it, it is overwhelming to overcome and manage the current challenges to sustain basic operations. As a result, leaders have no choice but to put in significant hours to help ensure services are maintained, the team is taken care of, and support a safe environment for our patients.

Think back over the years, have your hours increased? I have increased my hours by almost 80% during the past couple of years to address these challenges and maintain operations. While these actions speak volumes about our work ethic and commitment to our profession, our rest ethic is no longer commendable or sustainable.

Rest is so important, but why do we prioritize it last? Breaks, lunch? What’s that these days? A balanced lifestyle has always been in question for some of us like myself, but I enjoy my work. However, there’s currently nothing close to balance! I used to think I could not not rest, but now, we cannot afford to not rest.

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Resting not only is a luxury but seems like a guilty pleasure … why? There is just not enough time due to the demands of our operation and the need to be there for our team and our patients. We can reduce our rest time for a short period, but with the current state of operation, it seems more dismal that ample rest is not in our immediate future.

So, how do we get ourselves out of this swirling chaotic operation without breaking ourselves physically and mentally? That’s the million-dollar question! However, in the meantime, here are some suggestions • Are you priority? Ask yourself, why is your rest/wellbeing not a priority. Going through this process may help you to address the root cause of your dwindling rest ethic.

Maybe you think it is because your boss may be unhappy if you don’t put in the hours. Maybe you think others may think you can’t keep up with the operational demands. Maybe you feel like you have no choice, or you must say “yes” to every meeting or initiative. Perhaps feel that every idea brought to you must be executed soon. Sometimes these perceptions become our reality not realizing they are just our perceptions we may actually have options in managing the workload. So, go through that exercise to determine the root cause and address it.

• Comparing to others. Are you comparing yourself to others? Do you see others driving hard and feel the need to drive the same or harder? Avoid comparing. That gives a false sense of your own reality.

• Champions are time savers! Find champions within your department to help with the workload. It may take time to train staff, but you can work closely with these champions to help manage the workload once trained.

• Ask or get help. A personal assistant can ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

•

•

•

•

•

help with items related to your homes, such as cooking, cleaning, and other tasks you would prefer to offload.

If this is a financial constraint, consider the opportunity cost for you to continue doing those tasks. What is the opportunity cost? It is the value of what you lose out on (financially or intangible) when deciding on a particular course of action.

Control YOUR schedule. Do you have control of your work schedule? If so, place blocks and commit to not removing those blocks. These blocks will give you time to catch up, or better yet, catch a breath. If you don’t have complete control of your schedule, discuss this with your one up and ensure that you have the time to work at a sustainable pace. If that may be a difficult conversation, reach out to a mentor to assist you in how to approach this situation. Learn to say “no” and establish your boundaries if it is affecting your rest/well being.

Commit. You may not have the ability to have the ideal rest schedule you want. However, commit to working up to what you need. This may take time, but get started now. As I write this, I am forcing myself to have these unproductive moments of unproductivity, starting with 15 mins at a time.

Accountability Partner. Use a rest accountability partner.

At work, ask someone to go for a walk with you around campus -- you know they need it too! Set time specific to rest on your calendar and dare not to compromise it!

Listen to your body. Pushing may increase our stamina and endurance, but like anything else, constantly pushing too fast or hard may break us beyond repairable state.

In mechanical terms, yield strength is the greatest stress an object can undergo without becoming permanently deformed. Even in the deformed state, that material can still undergo stress until it fractures. This is referred to as tensile strength. Do you know your yield strength? We may continue to push our limits, but there is the possibility we, too, can break.

Focus on priorities. Yes, the operation can be such where everything is a priority but juggling 100 tasks is not effective. Buckle down and with the help of your supervisor,

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focus on key priorities. I am focusing on staffing, regulatory, safety, budget and quality. That list still is significant especially with a demanding operation, but at least it helps to remain focused and not succumb to trying to do everything at once.

• Make a decision. Decide whether this is where you want to be and what you want to do. Are you happy? Are you satisfied? Leaving your role is always an option but there are many considerations behind that. Prior to leaving, identify what items can make you happier, and work with your team and leaders to see how best you can get the most optimum environment. The grass is not always greener, but working on your current environment may be an option. Don’t get stuck in the should I stay or should I go mentality. That creates extra stress in an already demanding role.

Remember, as much as we all are superheroes and rockstars, moments of unproductivity are essential and crucial to our success and effectiveness. In everything around us, rest is emphasized, for example, recess at school or rest between your sets at the gym.

The whole world is moving at a lightning-fast pace, but do recognize our human limits and commit to balancing your work ethic with your rest ethic. Take control of it in your best interest. I encourage you to pause and ensure that you are taking care of yourself. The operation will remain volatile, but your team, your friends and your family cannot afford for you to be volatile.

Welcome unproductive moments. No need to feel guilty.

It’s OK to close the laptop and turn off the phone, even for 5 minutes. Work on it until you can have more extended periods of rest. Until then, keep working on balancing that work and rest ethic. Time is the most invaluable asset. How will you commit to leveraging the most of it in favor of your wellbeing? Need an accountability partner? Reach out to me! • - Nicole Dhanraj, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, PMP, GPHR, CPSS, CRA, R.T(R)(CT)(MR), is a radiology systems director for Northern Arizona Healthcare.

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INSIGHTS

PACS/IT

BY MARK WATTS

W

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MY PEOPLE

hen I was working as a CAT scan tech, I would come home for dinner with my wife and she would ask me, “How was your day?”

Most days, I would respond with an update on one of my people. It may be a strange concept to some, but as a care provider who interacts episodically with a wide range of customers/patients in their time of need, what are the differentiators that would make someone one of my people? Religion, race, social economic, college affiliation, country of origin, place of birth, profession or language spoken? Artificial intelligence (AI) in health care should not have bias towards any of these and they are not what I mean by my people.

My people are on a journey and with each of them is an unwelcomed parasite – cancer. It is not that orthopedic, cardiac or neuro patients receive less compassion or care.

I just feel that I can be technically proficient at my job but use more tools in my toolbox for cancer patients. Empathy or what some call emotional IQ – caring for the whole person, physically, emotionally and psychologically. AI plus human providers.

First Interaction: Pre scan history is always collected for the exam, the patient says “I found a lump in the shower. I just have been losing weight. I have some blood when I cough up stuff. My nipple has kind of turned in.

My bones hurt. People say I have seizures.” And, so much more. This is the beginning of the journey, pre-cancer.

Common questions are “What is wrong with me? Will I be

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OK?” This history could be supplemented by presenting relevant laboratory tests by AI to the radiologist and natural language processing can search the referring general practice physician’s notes for differential diagnosis.

Second Interaction: Pre scan history is always collected for the exam. “The last test showed something.

My doctor said you found something and now wants my whole body scanned. I don’t feel that bad, I think you guys just want to make more money.” After a person is told that they have cancer, some people are in distress to the point they cannot process the information or deflect the severity. AI can review the thousands of images of the CT head with and without contrast, three phase abdomen, chest with and without contrast and pelvis with full bladder and rectal contracts. To aid the radiologist to focus on the millions of cancer cells it takes to create a visible 3-millimeter mass.

Third interaction: The biopsy: “They say you want to stick a long needle in me. My doctor said you could make my lung go flat by doing this exam. They want to know what kind of cancer I have so we can plan treatment. All this is just to get more money from me. My church is praying for me to make it through this.” AI can take the biopsy tissue sample and compare it to the data base of effective treatments that have been documented as a gold standard treatment plan for each patient matching the patient’s religion, race, social economic, college affiliation, country of origin, place of birth, profession or language spoken. This is how AI can democratize health care. Decease bias, not increase it.

Fourth interaction: Post surgery or treatments, “You ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

found something on your scans and they did surgery to cut it out. Now they want another scan to see if they got it all. I don’t know what is worse, the cancer or this treatment. Will my husband still love me?” AI can remind the radiologist of the common side effects of this type of treatment and raise awareness of where this patient is on their journey. Measurements of tumors and signs of treatment effectiveness.

Fifth interaction: Monitoring post treatment, “What is a second cancer? They told me I was done with treatment, but you must need more money so here I am. They say I can have a recurrence and the cancer could come back.” A person who has had cancer is commonly called a cancer survivor, not everyone who has had cancer likes the word “survivor.” The reasons for this may vary. For instance, they may simply identify more with being “a person who has had cancer.”

Or, if they are dealing with cancer every day, they may describe themselves as “living with cancer.” Therefore, they may not think of themselves as a survivor.

Sixth, Seventh, Eighth interactions: 20 million Americans are currently on this path. “You should go get that checked. You are bleeding on my pillowcase.”

This is what my wife said to me. This was the beginning of my journey. I was diagnosed with cancer, had biopsies, had surgery and received radiation treatments, I follow up every six months. I am living with cancer.

AI is my hope that my people, including myself and close friends. “Yes, Mark what a year, just defended my dissertation, had cancer treatment and my wife recovered from her cancer plus our community delt with COVID.” AI is my hope that you will receive the most patient-focused, N of 1, precision medicine researched and proven effective. That the best treatment protocols are shared and used by every physician and health care facility. Own your place in the process, seek new treatments and information, challenge the treatment course.

My people are on a journey and just want the trip to continue. I will be going to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to watch the fireworks display this year. It is a bucket list thing. My people look forward and AI can help like a GPS. •

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INSIGHTS

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

BY DR. DANIEL BOBINSKI

YOU CAN’T GET CHANGE IN A WEEKEND WORKSHOP

W

e live in the age of expediency. We love our 10-minute oil changes, drivethrough restaurants and microwave ovens. We want what we want, and we want it now. That works for some things, but when it comes to making changes in either ourselves or our companies, changes take time.

There’s a good reason for this. Simply stated, it’s because the human brain likes to know what’s going on, and it takes a little time for our brain cells to develop new pathways so the change is considered normal. Whenever change is presented, it’s like our brains go, “Warning! This is different! This could be dangerous!” This is why most people dislike change.

In reality, it’s not so much that people dislike change, it’s that they dislike rapid change.

Neuroscience is the study of the anatomy and physiology of the brain, and over the past few decades, scientists have learned much. Thankfully, their findings can help us understand how to create and implement effective change, both in ourselves and in our organizations.

One key to success in this effort is understanding how the amygdala works. The amygdala can be thought of as the part of our brain that checks for normality. If everything is sailing along smoothly and predictably, the amygdala says, “Cool,” and life goes on just fine. But if we’re confronted with change, or if someone says or does something that the amygdala perceives as a threat, then our neocortex – the rational thinking part of our brain – tends to shut down and control is sent to the amygdala.

Think of this process as a survival mechanism. If something out of the ordinary is perceived, our amygdala fires 40

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up our capability to fight or run, and when that happens, we can’t expect much in terms of rational thought or even rational conversation. Thus, physiologically speaking, our brains just don’t like rapid change.

However, if we understand brain mechanics, we can better facilitate the change process. One key to this is understanding neurogenesis, which is how the brain rewires itself. The good news is that scientists have learned that neurogenesis does not stop, thus putting to bed the notion that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. You definitely can. Think about the elderly grandfather who learns how to use email so he can regularly communicate with his grandchildren. The motivation is there, it just takes a little time for his brain to grow new neurons so he can use the email program.

As one example of how the brain grows new neurons, think about learning how to ride a bicycle. At first the process is awkward, but after some time and practice the skill is acquired. And, because the skill is often learned early in life, the neuropathways are strong – leading to the saying, “It’s just like riding a bike.” You’ve learned it; you can do it.

The same concept applies to learning how to drive a stick shift. The first few times are clunky, as you must think through every step of the process, but before long you’re humming along in fourth gear and you don’t remember shifting to get there. That’s the power of neurogenesis. Our brains literally grow new neurons so that a new “normal” exists there.

As another example to show that people are actually ok with change, all we need to do is walk through any home improvement store. These stores are often crowded in the summer with people buying things so they can make changes in their homes and yards. The thing to ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

remember is they are bringing about the change because not only have they had time to think about it, but they also gave their own input to the change! And this is the key to bringing about change in one’s professional development as well as in one’s organizations.

A. People want to give input about the change being proposed B. People need time for the change to take root in their brains, what scientists call neurogenesis With this in mind, here are four basic stages of incorporating change.

1. Unconscious Incompetence. This is not knowing how to do something because we don’t know it’s possible. It’s like a five-year-old not knowing about shifting gears in cars, or an entry-level new hire not knowing anything about strategic planning. They are unaware these options even exist.

2. Conscious Incompetence. This is when someone learns something is possible, but isn’t good at doing it because he or she lacks sufficient experience.

In driving a stick shift, it’s those first attempts at driving where there’s lots of clunking and stalls. In strategic planning, it’s not knowing what factors to take into consideration.

3. Conscious Competence. The third stage is where things may look proficient, but a lot of conscious effort is still required. When driving, it’s having to think when to brake or how far to push the acceler-

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ator when taking off from a traffic light. In strategic planning it’s consciously going through a checklist of what to consider.

4. Unconscious Competence. Stage four is when your brain has grown sufficient neurons to maneuver through a problem without consciously thinking about it. When driving a stick shift it’s finding yourself in fourth gear at 50 miles per hour without remembering shifting there from a dead stop. In strategic planning it’s like having an innate grasp of what to expect, what to look for and what to do.

One more example. As an instructor, I know that clients will remember about 20% of what is taught in an eighthour workshop. But if I spread that learning out, teaching one hour a week for eight weeks, retention of that material goes to nearly 80%.

The idea in all of this is that we can’t have instant gratification when it comes to change. Our brains need time for a new normal to be created, and that’s just the way the science works. • - Dr. Daniel Bobinski, M.Ed. is a best-selling author and a popular speaker at conferences and retreats. For more than 30 years he’s been working with teams and individuals (1:1 coaching) to help them achieve excellence. He was also teaching Emotional Intelligence since before it was a thing.

Reach him by email at DanielBobinski@protonmail.com or his office at 208-375-7606.

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INSIGHTS

PRESERVE AND PROTECT YOUR LEGACY RAD HR

BY KIAHNNA PATTON

F

ew things hit as hard as a loved one dying. What do you do?

One of the first things people do is notify others that the person has died. Then, the funeral planning begins. After that, closing out final affairs is a priority. If the person had a trust or will, it might be easier to close out those affairs, but keep in mind that there is so much not addressed in those documents.

One thing you may not know to do to preserve and protect the legacy of the dead is closing accounts – credit cards, driver’s licenses, voter registration, social media properties and many other time-consuming tasks that can make end-oflife seem endless. Contacting an employer to inquire about death benefits and medical insurance is another responsibility. And, I speak from experience when I say that I know that these are just the tip of the iceberg.

It has never been easy to be on the side of death related to either personal loss or loss at work. As a human resources professional, I worked at a company where we lost four people within a few days. Three in a boating accident and one in a car accident. My job was to speak with the families. I reached out to them to offer my condolences and to guide them through the process of receiving benefits (retirement, life insurance, medical insurance, etc.) and other services from the company. It was also my job to arrange wellness services for employees who worked with those who died. We provided grief counselors and organized memorial services to honor the lives and legacies of those we lost.

At the time, I didn’t know how much work those families were still tasked with after they spoke with me. That was almost 20 years ago when the amount of information one had to navigate was a bit less. In today’s world, we have cryp-

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ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

tocurrency and multiple social media accounts, not to mention the subscriptions, utilities and bank accounts of yesteryear. Each process is unique and different, requiring varying time commitments and information requirements. As leaders and employers, how can we help our team members preserve and protect their families? Organizations like Journa (thejourna.com) are doing just that by taking care of closing out accounts and handling the burdensome follow-up. There are also plenty of free resources that an Internet search will take you to if you’re keen on taking care of these things yourself. There is checklist upon checklist that offer guidance on what you need to do when a person dies, but rarely are they personalized for your situation, nor is there an opportunity for someone to do these things for you.

If you live in California, you are familiar with earthquake preparedness. When you’re ready for the inevitable “Big One,” you have your kit complete with water, food, blankets, flares, a means to build a fire, a radio and possibly more. You also have your designated family meeting place.

I’d venture to say that death is the most inevitable of all life events, yet we seem to be the least prepared to preserve and protect our legacies. I’m not only talking about wills and trusts, but also small things like closing accounts, canceling a driver’s license, filing taxes and so much more. Those things take a lot of time to do, and many we don’t realize we need to do to prevent identity theft and financial fraud.

What do you risk by not handling the many logistics after death?

Two of the biggest are identity and financial theft.

Did you know?

• An identity thief can file taxes on your behalf and do whatever they deem necessary to secure money that will land in their own pockets.

• Someone can assume your identity and start a whole new life.

They can use your Social Security number to open credit card accounts.

• A person can open utility and cellphone accounts using your identity.

• Someone can get medical care or even pretend to be you if they get arrested!

How’s that for a tainted legacy? How’d you like to see an arrest record on ancestry.com that you didn’t earn?

While a pain to get them corrected, it may be much easier to catch these things when you’re alive. After death, who’s monitoring this for you, especially when they don’t know they should? Among the many innovative benefits companies offer these days, I’d love to see subscriptions to services that help you or your loved ones manage logistics post-death to preserve and protect your legacy. It will give you much-needed space to grieve and celebrate the life of your loved one. • – Kiahnna D. Patton is human resources professional with experience in the health care sector as well as a nonprofit founder.

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INSIGHTS

THE ROMAN REVIEW

BY MANNY ROMAN

WRONG IS RIGHT

I

often visit Ted.com where I find interesting and enlightening presentations by experts in their field. One such presentation was “On Being Wrong” by Kathryn Schulz. Ms. Schulz is a staff writer for The New Yorker and is the author of “Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error.”

The presentation focuses on the fact that we tend to want to be right and never wrong. We are essentially stuck in the feeling of being right. We do not like the feeling of being wrong.

We know that people make mistakes and often are wrong.

However, this concept seems abstract when it applies to us in the present tense and we can’t really find anything we are wrong about. Yet, the present tense is where we live.

ERROR BLINDNESS When we are already wrong yet continue to feel right. We get stuck in the feeling of rightness for a time even though we are already wrong. We do not get an internal cue to let us know that we are wrong about something until it’s too late. A second reason we get stuck in the feeling of rightness comes from early childhood. We are taught that it is bad to get things wrong.

Those who are wrong are stupid, incompetent, lazy, blah, blah.

The way to success is to not make mistakes. Getting something wrong means there is something wrong with us so we insist that we are smart, virtuous, funny, good looking, etc.

Trusting too much in the feeling of rightness can be dangerous. It causes us to ignore facts. It causes us to trust the wrong people and wrong situations. We think that our beliefs perfectly reflect reality. So, how do we explain all of those people who disagree with us then? Ms. Schulz states that when someone disagrees with us, we make some assumptions about them.

THE IGNORANCE ASSUMPTION We assume they are ignorant. They just do not have access to the same information that we do. All we need to do is present all the facts and information and they will happily come around. When that doesn’t work, and they still disagree with us, we make the next assumption.

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THE IDIOCY ASSUMPTION They now have all the correct and infallible truth, according to our beliefs that is, and they still don’t get it right. They must be morons not to put it together correctly.

THE EVIL ASSUMPTION They now should have all the facts, and if they are fairly smart, then they must have some evil intent by distorting the truth for malevolent purposes. We now think badly of them.

We expect that everyone is looking at the world through the same window and seeing the same things. We expect that everyone is just like us: Boring. This misses the whole point of being human. She states, “The miracle of your mind isn’t that you can see the world as it is, it’s that you can see the world as it isn’t.” We can imagine things as they could be. We can imagine being some other person in some other place. We each can have our own window to look through.

In 637, Descartes wrote, “Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am).” In the fourth century BC, 1200 years before Descartes, Saint Augustine said, “Fallor ergo sum (I err therefore I am).”

Mistakes are an inherent part of being human. It is what causes us to be obsessed with gathering knowledge and deciphering our existence.

Interestingly, when it comes to our stories (books, movies, television, even our jokes), we love being wrong. We love the plot twists and misdirections, when the most “innocent” character is the killer. The best jokes are the ones that provide the most unexpected punchlines. Our lives are also this way, full of unexpected twists and turns.

The world is full of wonder. People have incredible stories to tell. If we want to discover these wonders we need to step outside the box or rightness. Fear of failure (getting something wrong) is a very strong demotivation and impediment for exploration and communication.

I leave you with a quote from one of my mentors when he saw fear and inaction, “Do something, even if it’s wrong.” My wife agrees.• - Manny Roman, CRES, is association business operations manager at Association of Medical Service Providers.

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

Custom-Tailored Value-added solutions for repair • MRI Coils • RF Amplifiers

• Gradient Amplifiers • Contrast Media Injectors

Component level repair and sub-assembly repair

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EMAIL: INFO@MITLABSUSA.COM

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ON-SITE TRAINING AVAILABLE

Contrast Injector

Training

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OPERATION, SERVICE, TROUBLESHOOTING

• Up to $5,500 in FREE Parts, • 100s of Error Codes not • Up to $5,500 in FREE Parts, PM Kits and Service found in OEM Lit • 100s of Error Codes notON-SITE PM Kits and Service• Online and Onsite Training foundAvailable in OEM Lit • Massive Troubleshooting AVAILABLE • Massive Troubleshooting Library • Online Library • Training BMETs since 2008 and Onsite Training Available • Training BMETs since 2008 CONTRAST INJECTOR TROUBLESHOOTING CHANNEL

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ICEMAGAZINE

45

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

– John Quincy Adams

YOU COULD WIN! Take our short ICE magazine readership survey. The first 100 respondents will receive a $5 Amazon Gift Card!

TAKE THE SURVEY EARLY TO CLAIM A GIFT CARD! SCAN FOR SURVEY

theicecommunity.com/readers/

46

ICEMAGAZINE | MAY 2022

[QUOTE OF THE MONTH]

ICE Break

8 4 5 3 7 5 3 6 8 7 1 6 3 5 7 1 9 6 6 4 3 6 7 2 9 8 7 3 5 6 1

Puzzle by websudoku.com

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

Covid virus

Science Matters

1

Infected person

1 Person inhales

SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, enclosed in oily envelopes

2 Virus invades the

body and explosively clone their genetic material (RNA)

3

2 3 4

Sewers can reveal Covid cases

Sewage system

Samples taken from sewage treatment plants can carry signs of coronavirus – accurate evidence of the pandemic’s progress, no hospital data or Covid test results required.

5

SCIENCE MATTERS

Spreading virus may cause breathing, nerve, circulation symptoms

4

Some viral copies are shed inside the intestines and adhere to stool

Wastewater processing plant

5

Chemical and physical wastewater treatment is highly effective in deactivating viruses

When the person eliminates, viral RNA is flushed into the sewage system

That and viruses’ natural decay, meant waste water poses no significant health risk

Testing system, detection of Covid variants Uses a highly sensitive test commonly used to detect the virus in nasal swabs: polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Test is so sensitive it can detect the virus when just one person out of 100,000 using the area’s sewers is infected © 2022 TNS Source: US National Wastewater Surveillance System; US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Coronavirus Alert Network; Italian river study in medRxiv journal; TNS Photos Graphic: Helen Lee McComas, Tribune News Service

WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM

α

β

γ

δ

ο

Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Omicron Genome of the virus is analyzed, indicating which genetic strain (variant) of SARS-CoV-2 it is After eight days, the amount of virus in wastewater samples decreases – the length of time an infection outbreak starts to slow

ICEMAGAZINE

47

Join the Celebration!

AHRA 50th Annual Meeting & Expo

Phoenix | July 10-13

C2252A

One Magical Location Two Robust Conference Tracks Fifty Years of Imaging Education and Inspiration

ahra.org/annualmeeting50

X-R AY T UBES & P ARTS FOR M EDICAL I MAGING E QUIPMENT

X-Ray Tubes for CT, Cath/Angio, and X-Ray

• Tubes for All Major Equipment Brands • New, Used, and Refurbished • OEM Replacement Parts Email: sales@w7global.com Toll Free: 855-W7GLOBA (974-5622)

Online: www.w7global.com WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM

ICEMAGAZINE

49

Imaging Jobs

NOW AVAILABLE htmjobs.com

“

Companies like ours have such a difficult time finding qualified candidates for field service roles that it just made sense to publish our opening with HTMJobs.

– K. White, HR/Compliance Manager

”

LOOKING TO FILL A POSITION? Visit htmjobs.com/start-posting/ to post a job.

Companies that post with us:

Piedmont Healthcare, First Call Parts, Associated Imaging Services, Medical Imaging Solutions, Universal Medical Resources Inc, TRIMEDX, Renovo Solutions, Canon Medical Systems, Cal-Ray, Sodexo HTM and many more!

ICE2022 IMAGING CONFERENCE & EXPO FEBRUARY 20-22, 2022 • NAPA, CA

Contact us at htmjobs@mdpublishing.com to learn more about our various posting options and low flat-rate recruiting services!

REGISTER FOR FREE AT HTMJOBS.COM

Clinical Engineer III

X-Ray Service Engineer

Field Service Engineer Nuclear Medicine

FSE job is for Wichita, KS. Hours of operation are 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday thru Friday (excluding Holidays). The territory you will be responsible for will primarily be Kansas and occasionally a few neighboring states. This job includes many benefits including health insurance, 401k investment plans, company car, PTO, bonus programs and more.

Perform installations, repairs, and maintenance tasks on diagnostic medical equipment specific medical devices. Inspect, test, replace and adjust malfunctioning components and parts. Keep records of system problems and issues.

First Call Parts has been providing customers with quality replacement imaging parts since 2009. We pride ourselves in developing a top-notch reputation in the imaging industry as delivering the best in diagnostic imaging replacement parts. We specialize in the sale of refurbished/tested and used, Philips, Siemens, and GE in the Cath/Angio, R/F, and RAD modalities.

VIEW FULL DETAILS www.htmjobs.com

VIEW FULL DETAILS www.htmjobs.com

VIEW FULL DETAILS www.htmjobs.com

Imaging Field Service Engineer III

Customer Support Engineer II/III - MRI/CT

Field Service/Customer Engineer (VL/MR/CT/UL)

Field service on medical equipment, installation of x-ray equipment, Diagnostic Imaging field service engineer servicing multi-vendor/multi-modality equipment in hospital and other environments.

Focusing on c-arms, Digital R/F, Digital Mobiles, x-ray systems and digital capture both DR and CR modalities. Growth opportunities to include CT, MRI, Ultrasound, and others.

The Customer Support Engineer II installs, inspects, troubleshoots, repairs, calibrates and verifies the performance of medical imaging equipment including, but not limited to: MR and CT systems, general radiographic rooms, portables, mammography, ultrasound, bone density and supporting equipment. This is not an entry level role.

Company vehicle or Car allowance, tools, uniform, relocation assistance, training (on the job, online & classroom technical instruction at our training facility in Irvine, CA), benefits on day one of employment, 401K with matching, collaborative team environment, growth, work life balance, strong company culture of excellence... and so much more!

VIEW FULL DETAILS www.htmjobs.com

VIEW FULL DETAILS www.htmjobs.com

VIEW FULL DETAILS www.htmjobs.com

Field Service Engineer II

Imaging Engineer III

Imaging Service Engineer III

If you are wondering what makes TRIMEDX different, it’s that all of our associates share a common purpose of serving clients, patients, communities, and each other with equal measures of care and performance.

Using the highest level of technical expertise, inspect, troubleshoot, repair, maintain, and calibrate the full range of diagnostic imaging and/ or therapeutic radiation equipment, devices, system, and instruments. Interact on a routine basis with other clinical health providers in the identification of technology-based problems and solution development.

VIEW FULL DETAILS www.htmjobs.com

VIEW FULL DETAILS www.htmjobs.com

Field service on medical imaging equipment.

Growth opportunities include Diagnostic Imaging field service engineer servicing multi-vendor/ multi-modality equipment in hospital and other environments. Focus is toward c-arms, Digital Mobiles, x-ray systems and digital capture both DR and CR. Additional modalities to include CT, MRI, Ultrasound, and others. Position advancement possibilities will be available when appropriate.

VIEW FULL DETAILS www.htmjobs.com

ICE is headed to...

ICE2023 IMAGING CONFERENCE & EXPO

attendice.com

FEBRUARY 17-19, 2023 • NASHVILLE, TN

AMSP MEMBERS Offering the best reliability and support in the medical industry, just for you.

800-541-0632 brandywineimaging@comcast.net

Expert Engineers.

Complete Support.

Exceptional Quality.

Complete Customization.

One Point of Contact.

1-800-421-2402 sales@interstateimaging.com

AMSP SHORT TEAM SOULTIONS FOR

LONG TERM RESULTS

King’s Medical Group 800-854-9061 contact@kingsmedical.com

I M A G I N G

CONTRAST INJECTOR TRAINING OPERATION, SERVICE, AND TROUBLE SHOOTING

READY TO HELP YOU IDENTIFY YOUR IMAGING NEEDS The Association of Medical Service Providers (AMSP) is the premier national association of independent service and products providers to the health WE FOCUS ON PEOPLE, INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS, AND SERVICE EXCELLENCE

care technology industry.

Our large pool of modality specialists provide for lower costs and higher quality

440-724-7511 STEVE@MAULLBIOMEDICAL.COM MAULLBIOMEDICAL.COM

800-722-1991 radonmedicalimaging.com

services for our customers throughout the U.S. Learn more at www.amsp.net.

WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM

ICEMAGAZINE

53

INDEX

ADVERTISER INDEX AHRA p. 48

KEI Medical Imaging p. 25 PM Imaging Management p. 39

Association of Medical Service Providers (AMSP) p. 53

Banner Imaging p. 3

Diagnostic Solutions p. 43

HTMJobs.com p. 50

KMG p. 15

Ray-Pac® Ray-Pac p. 56

Mammo.com p. 2

Maull Biomedical p.45

MIT Labs p.45

ICE Webinars p. 35

Richardson Healthcare p. 5

Summit Imaging, Inc. p. 21

Technical Prospects p. 4

SOLUTIONS

Medical Imaging Solutions p. 9

Tri-Imaging Solutions p. 55

MedWrench p. 34

W7 Global, LLC. p. 49

Injector Support and Service p. 18

International X-Ray p. 39 Metropolis International p. 49

54

ICEMAGAZINE | MAY 2022

ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

CAP YOUR IMAGING PARTS EXPENSES Unlimited parts and glassware coverage for your imaging equipment. Why take all the parts risk on yourself when you could go to the parts experts?

Call us today to learn more.

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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS TO OUR CUSTOMERS?

• • • • •

• Cap risk on parts expenses • Improved access to parts & tubes • Faster access to critical parts with our forward stocking locations • Peace of mind for not delaying patient care

Unlimited coverage of all parts and X-ray tubes Includes Technical Support and System Training Forward Stocking 3-year Agreement Term Pre-site inspection may be required

SOLUTIONS Call: 855.401.4888 | Visit: triimaging.com | Email: sales@triimaging.com Located in Nashville, TN • ISO 13485:2016 certified

Tube Replacements For

843-767-8090 www.ray-pac.com

X-Ray Tube Repairs, Sales and Service

Siemens Canon Philips Varex GE Shimadzu Toshiba Fuji Hologic Dunlee Picker AND MORE!