Getting Started

There are many questions that you should be asking yourself as you begin to embark on the journey of creating an outpatient diagnostic imaging service. The newer models (joint ventures, timeshare arrangements, cooperatives and the like) certainly have some uniqueness about them, but they also have many of the same features and aspects of the models of the past. The answers to the following questions will help you determine whether or not you think you have a “winner” and whether or not you can convince others (partners, lenders, etc.) that you have a “winner”.

What is your business strategy and why will the business work?
I have generally referred to this as the “hook” – why will patients come to your new business enterprise? Unfortunately, just having the perceived best or differentiated equipment and the best service does not matter as much as it used to, although they are still very important aspects of your business strategy. What does matter is the “hook” - why the patients will come to your facility. Is the population growing in your market in such a way that a new service provider in the area just make good business sense? Or, have you “partnered” with a group of orthopedic physicians who have been referring out between 6 and 8 MRI patients a day to a local imaging center and have realized something else? These referring physicians have realized that they “control” the patient flow and now they want to reap some of the financial benefit of that patient flow, along with the convenience of having the service right in, or adjacent to, their office. This latter approach is an example of the next new model – and there are plenty of variations on the theme. My preference, as both a businessperson and a prospective lender, is this latter model.

If you have a good business strategy, that’s critical, but you’re still not out of the woods. You’ve got to have the right business plan that goes along with the strategy AND you’ve got to be able to demonstrate that you can get the business up and running, as well as manage it for the long term. You could need partners for some or all of that – this is not necessarily a bad thing and might be the best thing you could do to help get your business off the ground. You also have to demonstrate that the approach you are taking within the bounds of the Stark legislation, Fraud and Abuse, Anti-Kickback statutes and any state-specific laws that impact your business plan.

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