Resources (2018-2019)

Publications

Radiology Management

The bi-monthly journal continues to be rated the most valuable AHRA product, program, or service among members. It is peer reviewed by AHRA’s Editorial Review Board. A total of 67 articles were published between July 2018 and June 2019. And 15% of members and subscribers opt out of print to receive the digital edition only.

A special digital edition was published in June 2019 to mark the 10th anniversary of AHRA and Canon’s Putting Patients First program, featuring grant recipient articles from each year of the grant’s existence beginning in 2008, as well as links to videos detailing additional grant recipient projects.

Link

AHRA’s online newsletter averages 3,445 visits and 6,623 page views a month. A total of 125 articles were published between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019. The top post from the past year is “CMS Releases Fact Sheet/Practical Guide for Appropriate Use Criteria.”

Professional Development Series

The success of this textbook series continues. Development of subsequent editions is ongoing:

Financial Management in Radiology, 2E
Communication & Information Management in Radiology, 2E
Human Resource Management in Radiology, 2E
Asset Management in Radiology, 2E
Operations Management in Radiology

Each book has a coordinating free exam in the Online Institute that has been approved for ARRT Category A CE credit.

Regulatory Affairs

The role of the AHRA Regulatory Affairs Committee is to help our members understand, navigate, and implement new or changing regulations that affect our industry, and specifically, the medical imaging community. Consistent with the goals of AHRA’s Strategic Plan, through participation and interaction with a variety of influential national organizations and alliances, we endeavor to expand awareness of AHRA’s presence and participation within the healthcare space as an important and influential industry leader. The committee works to educate government entities on how regulations may impact members, their facilities, and their patients, and submits comments during structured, public comment periods.

Arguably, the most challenging regulatory issue AHRA members continue to face is responding to and complying with the CMS Appropriate Use Criteria program (AUC), which includes a mandate that ordering providers consult AUC via an electronic Clinical Decision Support Mechanism when ordering outpatient advanced imaging exams for Medicare patients. Other regulatory issues of concern include the 2019 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule, which includes several significant implications and challenges for radiology.

The Regulatory Affairs Committee keeps members up to date on important issues through the Advocacy section of the AHRA website, conference presentations, Radiology Management columns and features, webinars, emails, and LINK articles. They produce resource materials such as infographics and FAQs. The Committee continued to work and collaborate on a regular basis with the ACR, RBMA, IHE, and the e-Ordering Imaging Coalition and other like-minded industry stakeholders.

Online Learning

CRA Exam Workshop

The Virtual CRA Exam Workshop is delivered via a series of pre-recorded webinars by seasoned presenters. It covers each domain, or subject area, in the exam: Fiscal Management, Human Resource Management, Operations Management, Asset Management, and Test Taking Tips and Communication & Information Management. As of July 2019, there have been 239 course participants.

Basic Track

The Virtual Basic Management Skills course brings our popular Basic Management track from our in-person conferences to anyone, anywhere, any time. The 13 pre-recorded presentations are delivered by seasoned presenters, covering important managerial areas such as budgeting, communication, marketing, patient satisfaction, and more. As of July 2019, there have been 99 course participants.

Online Institute

The Online Institute contains dozens of courses updated on a regular basis, including archived webinars and conference sessions. The most accessed are:
Quick Credit
24 FREE exams based on the most recent Radiology Management articles. Between July 1, 2018–June 30, 2019, a total of 13,358 exams were taken.

Textbook Chapters
118 FREE exams based on chapters from the AHRA Professional Development Series. Between July 1, 2018–June 30, 2019, a total of 1,617 exams were taken.

Rapid Review

This program evaluates and grants ARRT Category A CE credit to qualified education tools.

Number of submissions between July 1, 2018–June 30, 2019: 339.

There were an additional 58 reviews for AHRA and Institutional Providers.

MICI is a quarterly index calculated based on the input of US hospital imaging directors and managers who complete the same online survey about their perceptions of macro trends in medical imaging (cost, revenue, operation). Data has been tracked since 2011.

Online Resources

AHRA Forum, Connect

AHRA’s popular online discussion group that provides real time dialogue among imaging professionals. From July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019 there was 1,351 threads; 6,572 messages; 220,000 page views. Special communities for executive leadership, regulatory affairs, aspiring CRAs, and members who served in the military have been created throughout the year and the addition of the volunteer module for improved member engagement and recognition was incorporated in August 2017.

Career Center

The AHRA Career Center was launched in April 2017. As part of the National Healthcare Career Network (NHCN), the AHRA Career Center joins members with an extensive network of jobs and candidates from hundreds of healthcare organizations and job boards. The National Healthcare Career Network’s (NHCN) career resources include services for resume writing, career coaching, and reference checking.