Management and Coordination of Physician Staffing

Unfortunately, the specialty of radiology is in turmoil in large part due to the continued severe shortage of physicians. This is compounded by the rapid increase in imaging study demand. As a result, many hospital based radiology groups are under great stress. Frequently, struggling radiology groups are unable to provide the high quality service the hospital needs. This pressure can lead to radiology group dissention or dissolution. This leaves the hospital without a contracted radiology service provider. The fastest temporary approach, while identifying a long term solution, is the use of locum tenens radiologists. Retaining locum tenens radiologists to staff an entire department is costly and time consuming. It is also difficult to coordinate the proper daily number of radiologists with the proper combination of skills in the department. The hospital must ensure the department can meet the needs of the medical staff.

RBS has the unique experience to manage and coordinate the day-to-day physician staffing of hospital radiology departments during transition. Components of this service include:

• Daily scheduling and coordination of locum tenen radiologists using multiple locums agencies
• Negotiation of competitive rates and contracts
• Coordination and assistance of physician credentialing
• Facilitation with hospital to identify available methods to bill and collect for locums Radiologist staffing the department when feasible.
• Coordination and Management of an after-hours service provider
• Coordination and Management of daytime teleradiology provider to supplement service if appropriate

The loss of the Hospital’s radiology service provider can be traumatic for the medical staff and department staff. Disruption of service is also painful and costly for the hospital. RBS can help minimize the frustration and help to bring temporary stability to the department while administration seeks an alternative long term solution.

Our Management and Coordination of Physician Staffing service bridges the time frames between our Consulting and New Group Development services (hyperlinks). This service can be retained independently while the Hospital plans for a new service provider.