A White Paper Health organizations in today's managed care environment continue to look for ways to contain costs, improve operating efficiencies, and increase patient satisfaction. Not surprisingly, radiology and imaging services are an integral part of the healthcare paradigm.
Problems provide opportunities for improvement.
Therefore, finding ways to integrate information and images into the delivery of healthcare becomes the impetus. Over the past 20 years, the volume of imaging services has increased much faster than other medical services. Today, managed care continues to grow, with over half of the nation's population enrolled in managed care plans. However, since imaging is relatively safe, painless, and definitive, it maintains an essential and desirable role in many diagnoses. Therefore, radiologists play a larger role as gatekeepers of imaging resources.