Merger Mania: Mitigating Chaos with Tactical Empathy

Richard Duszak Jr., MD, FACR, Chair of the American College of Radiology^® (ACR^®) Commission on Leadership and Practice Development, contributed this piece.

Beginning historically as a single hospital- and practice-centered cottage industry, radiology is now big business and prime target for private equity. Most radiologists, however, struggle to manage the continued demand for imaging amid evolving radiology business models.

Consolidation is rampant, driving not only larger and larger practice sizes but increasingly the forced integration of different and disparate practice types. Scaling practices of similar cultures is itself challenging, but often chaotic when those cultures and additionally their business models clash.

Let’s consider the case of an institutional leadership-imposed “strategic partnership” of a large regional health system and a nationally recognized academic medical center. As a practice leader or future practice leader, do you feel equipped to navigate the complex, interconnected and multi-layered integration negotiations aimed toward identifying and implementing financially and operationally sustainable solutions for your health systems, radiologists, clinical and administrative staffs, referring providers, and patients alike?

That’s where the ACR Radiology Leadership Institute (RLI) can help. In interactive case studies at the September 2024 RLI Summit, we’ll be offering tools, strategies and new connections critical to conquering this and other very real-world inspired scenarios. In this particular session, I’ll be focusing on mitigating merger mania, helping guide attendees toward optimizing operational standardization, subspecialization, cross-coverage, compensation, regulatory compliance, quality improvement, non-clinical professional service, education and scholarship in a win-win scenarios for all stakeholders. One of the key themes to successful mergers is understanding the viewpoints of others, so negotiation concepts like tactical empathy will be introduced.

I hope you’ll join me Sept. 6-8 in Boston, MA.