Dear AuntMinnie Member,
ANAHEIM, CA - Building a new imaging facility from the ground up is no easy task. There are contractors to hire, marketing plans to develop, staff schedules to juggle. But a little advance planning -- and learning from the experiences of others -- can go a long way towards smoothing the process.
That's the word from Great Basin Imaging, a Carson City, NV, radiology group that has built a new state-of-the-art imaging facility. The group's operations director discussed the experience in a presentation at this week's American Healthcare Radiology Administrators conference. Staff editor Jonathan S. Batchelor was on hand to report for our Imaging Center Digital Community.
Great Basin learned a number of valuable lessons as it built its new facility. For example, bringing a vendor's equipment installers into the design and construction process early on can pay dividends, as these employees have hands-on experience in setting up modality scanners.
Another tip is to hire an owner's representative -- essentially a contractor who acts as a liaison between the imaging facility and the general contractor. It might seem expensive in the short run, but can save hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a project.
But despite good intentions and advance planning, fate can still throw a monkey wrench into the plan. Find out what happened to Great Basin Imaging by visiting our Imaging Center Digital Community, at http://centers.auntminnie.com.
While you’re in the community, check out our new feature: the USCS Radiology Service Tracker. Produced in collaboration with USCS Equipment Technology Solutions, the Service Tracker provides you with snapshot views of the most important metrics in capital equipment operation. We’re currently featuring a chart on the growth in hourly maintenance rates for MRI/CT, nuclear medicine, and general radiology over the last five years.
