HealthCare Business News recently spoke with AHRA President Ernie Cerdena to learn more about his background and to get an update regarding the association.

HCB News: What inspired you to get involved in health care?
EC: I’ve been in health care for the past 30 years. I started as an imaging technologist and worked as a technologist performing X-ray, interventional radiology and CT for 13 years and then one year in MRI with the rest of the time in medical imaging management. My father used to work in a maternity clinic, back in the Philippines, as an attendant, helping the midwife. I would say that I was influenced from an early age. My brother is also a technologist. He’s in Texas. My sister is a registered nurse and my wife is as well. What truly inspired me is the notion of helping the sick to get better. Regardless of your position, we’re all in it together — our calling is to be there for the patient.

HCB News: How and why did you get involved in the AHRA?
EC: In 1999, my first leadership position in New York City was at St. Vincent’s in Manhattan. I was supervisor and then manager of the cancer center. After 9/11, I decided to stay local, so I accepted a director of radiology position, and in 2003 I joined AHRA. In this business, in order to be successful as leaders we have to have some source of networking and ability to know and learn the industry. The AHRA is the association for that. It’s great to be involved in the association — whether networking, talking to your peers, we share the same language.

It’s something that we can take with us and apply to our day-to-day operation. In 2003, I attended the annual meeting for the first time, in Anaheim, California. I met some people, there was a sign up for volunteers and I did that. I felt it was a great organization early on and decided to invest my time to find what value I could bring to, and gain from, the association.

I wrote a few articles in radiology management. They wanted me to be involved with the design team that was behind the conference. There are three major meetings — Spring, Summer (annual meeting) and Fall. I did the Fall conference for two years and the annual meeting for three years. In 2009, I was the chair of the annual meeting in Las Vegas. From there, I became more involved in the various committees. I was elected board member and then chair of the education foundation, and then elected onto the main board of the AHRA. On my third year on the board I was elected president.

HCB News: Are there any initiatives you’re championing as president?
EC: The year I became president, or even before, as a member of the board, I thought that there was a need to really educate members of the board and AHRA staff. There was a need to understand the scope of the members of the board, which is the governance, versus the operation aspects of the association, which is the CEO and staff. So from day one, I presented the scope so everyone knew their responsibilities. As a board, as a whole, we were to meet three times as well. After the orientation I had a great feeling that everyone now understands. That gave us a solid foundation in terms of the development and implementation of our strategic plan.

While the board has the responsibility for developing the strategic plan as part of the governance, the AHRA CEO and staff are accountable for the operational plan and implementation. The entire board identified three major goals. The first was a focus on imaging leaders. It’s a goal that AHRA will be a valued career asset for industry leaders. We want to grow our membership by talking about the benefits of being a member. Currently, we have maybe 5,250 members, and our goal is to reach 6,000 which will kick off during our annual meeting this year The second goal focuses on employers — health care systems, hospitals, imaging facilities. We need to provide their CEOs and COOs with the understanding that radiology administrators are the perfect fit to lead medical imaging management and even outside imaging operations.

For example, I oversee not just imaging, but the clinical laboratory. We want to demonstrate to the health care administration our experience and our education. We possess CRA certification which validates our abilities to run health care effectively. In my view there are increasing numbers of radiology administrators who are expanding their roles and taking on additional responsibilities, including the C-suite level as well. The third goal centers on industry stakeholders, private partners and policymakers. The push is that AHRA will be a valuable collaborator on regulatory and health care issues. This includes changes with CMS reimbursements and standards, the Joint Commission, NEMA XR-29, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, clinical decision support, site-neutral payments and many other regulatory issues relevant to medical imaging operations.

HCB News: What are the biggest challenges facing the association today?
EC: We regularly conduct a membership survey. The most recent one was in January. According to the feedback, the biggest challenge was regulatory changes. More specifically, health care reform, in terms of fee-for service into value-based care. There was also concern about the way we’re being reimbursed, and increasing patient satisfaction. Those topics all continue to be important challenges for health care leaders.

HCB News: Is there any big news in imaging management you’re excited about?
EC: I’m closely watching the Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2016 that’s up and coming, the clinical decision support and the equalization payment (site-neutral payment). I also think the fate of health care reform, in general, is exciting. We are, of course, waiting to see what the impact of the presidential election results will be. If the Republicans win, will it be repealed? If the Democrats win, will it be expanded?

HCB News: What skills does it take to be successful in imaging management and have those skills changed in recent years?
EC: I think the leadership skills and behavior in terms of influencing and inspiring employees, making them excited to reach the goals of the system, will remain the same. There are times when you have to be transformational. For instance, when you’re working with a limited budget, but dealing with day-to-day needs of the employees and imaging department. Employee engagement is very, very important in keeping things moving forward. Many experts believe that highly engaged employees impact the productivity, cost and patient experience. I think we need to have solid and positive communication toward that. Being in a silo and insular isn’t going to work anymore. You have to be able to be open and forward-thinking and work with other departments in the hospital. There’s still a high level of resistance to change. Silos are going away, but slowly.

HCB News: In your opinion, what will the imaging management professional look like a decade from now?
EC: I think it will change. We’re seeing it now. Many radiologist administrators, in addition to imaging, are being assigned to oversight of other ancillary areas — lab, pharmacy, rehab, etc. The paradigm shift of reducing costs and improving quality — we have a major role in that. The evidence-based practice, I think will be more highly utilized. The value-based care transition from fee-for-service will stabilize. There will be more involvement between radiology administrators and physicians leading the medical imaging department, as well as at the health care system level.