From the June 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


We’re ready to start collecting data by end of quarter two. The value of participating in ImageGuide has increased recently. We found out just this week that we were approved as a qualified clinical data registry. Participating in a QCDR will allow clinicians to fulfill government requirements for quality initiatives and value-based modifiers, and protect 5-10 percent of reimbursement.

The result is that clinicians will be able to validate the quality of their work and also get paid appropriately for the work we’re doing. Although we applied for the QCDR last fall, we weren’t sure we were going to get it, so the fact that it was accepted and announced this week, was a big thing. We are the only cardiology sub-specialty that has achieved this and one of the few registries overall accepted by the government this year.


HCBN: What other initiatives have you pushed during your presidency?
DW: Bringing specialty groups together. There have been a lot of silos in cardiology and medicine. We talked to ourselves, developed statements, had appropriate use criteria. We figured if we built it, they’d come. We didn’t always do a good job of transmitting our message to the other groups that nuclear cardiology affects. We really have to clarify the relationship between the one that orders the test, the one that performs it and the others who will use those results. We’ve also worked at doing a better job of defining our value and how we fit into the big picture.

HCBN: What are the biggest challenges facing ASNC members today?
DW: Nuclear cardiology was a test that was used a lot, but volume has gone down for a variety of reasons – some justified, some not. We have the ability to improve quality. We have cameras that are old, that won’t give us the highest quality, and we have technology that will improve quality beyond what we’ve ever had. The ability to incorporate these techniques is becoming increasingly difficult.

We have Cardiac PET that improves quality and provides more information, new software that will improve images, newer cameras that require less time for patients, at a lower radiation dose; but if reimbursement goes down, it is more difficult for health systems to agree to new purchases. In the past, when I was part of a smaller practice, there weren’t many people I had to talk to in order to get the new equipment.

But as more practices are owned by hospitals, it’s a challenge to go up against other technologies – maybe you can bring value, but if there are limited funds, you need to bring more value and marketability. So part of the problem is, how do we do this? It’s important to bring people together at national meetings to discuss these challenges. Yet the trend is online and web-based education. Unfortunately, when you don’t bring people together, it’s harder to grow leaders.

June 2015 Magazine

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