Tag: United Imaging

MRI Accessibility Advantage

Posted on by Jake Fishman

Memorial MRI and Diagnostic’s COO Todd Greene starred in a recent Aunt Minnie webinar, detailing the role MRI accessibility plays in the Texas imaging group’s strategy, and sharing some very relevant takeaways for imaging providers and vendors.

Founded in 2001, Memorial MRI and Diagnostic (MMD) operates 16 imaging centers across Texas, including eight in greater Houston and eight Dallas-area locations added through its 2021 acquisition of Prime Diagnostic Imaging. 

  • MMD’s strategy focuses on integrating its imaging centers within their local communities, making patient access and referring physician relationships particularly important.

In addition to proximity to patients, MMD’s MRI accessibility strategy historically focused on maintaining a fleet of open bore 1.5T MRI scanners to accommodate larger and claustrophobic patients. 

  • This is especially important given that many of MMD’s patients are “Texas sized” or don’t realize they’re claustrophobic until the scan begins. 

That strategy started to change when MMD installed United Imaging’s 3T uMR OMEGA ultra-wide-bore (75 cm), allowing it to scan larger and claustrophobia-prone patients (plus all other patients) without open MRIs’ scan speed and image quality tradeoffs. 

  • The uMR OMEGA was MMD’s first 3T MRI at any of MMD’s imaging centers, although Greene expects its patient and referrer-friendly advantages to drive a continued shift towards wide-bore 3T MRI systems.

Greene also detailed Memorial MRI’s alliance with United Imaging (the webinar’s sponsor), specifically highlighting the scalability of UIH’s “Software for Life” (scanners automatically updated with future software) and “All-In” (scanners include all possible features/packages) policies.

As the webinar wrapped up, Greene warned imaging centers not to blindly rely on what has worked in the past, predicting that “ease of access is what is going to shape the future of healthcare.” 

The Takeaway

We get plenty of insights from the medical center side of radiology, but it’s still rare to hear from imaging center chains. That makes MDD’s insights particularly useful for the many regional imaging providers who’d like to improve MRI accessibility (without open MRI’s tradeoffs) and for MRI OEMs looking to drive 3T MRI adoption in an imaging provider segment that historically favored 1.5T systems.

BAMF & United Imaging’s Precision Medicine Milestone

Posted on by Jake Fishman

BAMF Health took a big step in its precision medicine strategy, installing United Imaging’s uEXPLORER total-body PET/CT scanner as it prepares to open its theranostics treatment center. 

Founded in 2018, BAMF Health (Bold Advanced Medical Future) has applied a unique approach to developing advanced treatments, combining the world’s “most advanced” radiopharmacy, its proprietary AI platform, and top molecular imaging technology to deliver hyper-personalized and targeted treatments.

Installing United Imaging’s uEXPLORER total-body PET/CT scanner represents a key final addition to BAMF Health’s precision medicine stack, and makes it the first institution in the US using total-body PET for theranostics. More importantly, the uEXPLORER will allow BAMF Health to deliver more effective and efficient theranostics treatments by:

  • Imaging patients’ entire bodies in a single scan (vs. “eyes to thighs”)
  • Detecting and targeting signs of cancer smaller than two millimeters (vs. 1 cm)
  • Scanning patients in just one minute (vs. up to 1hr)
  • Reducing radiation dosage by up to 40x

BAMF Health’s launch might also represent an early theranostics paradigm shift, highlighting the potential role of private clinics (vs. academic/large institutions) and total-body PET/CT systems (vs. “whole”) with the advanced therapy.

BAMF Health will begin treating patients for prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors at its Michigan-based clinic this summer, but plans to deliver a wide range of personalized treatments that extend well beyond cancer in the future (e.g. Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cardiac diseases, endometriosis, chronic pain) and treat patients from around the country.

The Takeaway

Although BAMF Health still has a lot to prove, its upcoming clinical launch might be a key milestone in the evolution of theranostics and molecular imaging.

Growing with Desert Radiology

Posted on by Jake Fishman

Desert Radiology executive Matt Grimes starred in a recent Aunt Minnie webinar, detailing the Las Vegas radiology group’s operational and growth strategy, and sharing some very relevant takeaways for imaging providers and vendors. 

About Desert Radiology – Desert Radiology (DR) operates 11 imaging centers, services 14 acute care hospitals across Southern Nevada, and staffs over 80 radiologists and 500 clinical/support teammates. DR was founded nearly 55 years ago, but it has nearly doubled its imaging centers and radiologist workforce in the last five years.

Challenges – Desert Radiology faces more than its share of challenges, some of which are unique to the Las Vegas area (large managed care population, no local radiology med school programs), and some that are common across the country (radiologist hiring/recruitment, competition, declining reimbursements, rising volumes).

Growth Starts from Within – In order to grow without burning out its team, DR restructured its shift schedules to better fit staff members’ needs and diversified its radiologist career paths to match their personal goals (e.g. multiple partner tracks, an associate track, and a telerad track). 

Engagement Pivot – DR previously relied on radio and billboard ads to reach new patients but pivoted towards a community engagement strategy, with a focus on outreach, charity work, and deepening its relationship with local providers and partners.

Population Health Partnerships – Because of Las Vegas’ high concentration of managed care patients, Desert Radiology places considerable focus on reducing unnecessary imaging and achieving early/accurate diagnoses. This patient environment has also driven DR to deepen its local healthcare relationships, leading to new population health-appropriate agreement structures and referrer programs.

Selecting The Right OEMs – When evaluating new scanners, DR first examines image quality by having its radiologists evaluate images while blinded to the scanner brands (avoiding bias). It then evaluates the proposed scanners’ ease of use, workflow fit, and overall value, before making a final decision.

DR’s Case for United Imaging – Grimes also detailed how Desert Radiology has benefitted from working with United Imaging (the webinar’s sponsor), specifically highlighting the value of UIH’s “Software for Life” (scanners automatically updated with future software) and “All-In” (scanners include all possible features/packages) policies.

The Takeaway – We get plenty of insights from the commercial and academic side of radiology each week, but operational insights are still rare, making this webinar particularly useful for the many imaging groups with similar goals and challenges as Desert Radiology.

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