Yuma Regional buys diagnostic imaging service provider

CEO: Acquisition will improve access to technology

Yuma Regional Medical Center announced Tuesday it has purchased Focused Imaging and Advanced Radiology Healthcare, a longtime provider of diagnostic imaging services for patients, including X-rays and MRI.

YRMC CEO Dr. Robert Trenschel said the transaction, the culmination of about a-year-and-a-half of talks, will improve the community’s access to the diagnostic technology offered by Focused Imaging, including the area’s only “open MRI” machine.

“This will expand access who wish to receive services here in the community. It’ll be another port of entry for patients outside of the hospital. It’s located in an outpatient, ambulatory environment so you don’t have to come into the hospital to get that same level of care,” he said.

The partnership will also bring Focused Imaging’s database of patient records and images into to the hospital’s electronic medical records system, so more physicians will have access and be able to compare them with other diagnostic records, Trenschel said.

“With the additional capacity, additional hours of operation, additional personnel, it’ll expand access,” he said.

The purchase is also another step toward YRMC’s goal of integrating patient care at all levels, to provide better coordination and outcomes, he said.

All 30 employees and

three physicians with Focused Imaging and Advanced Radiology Healthcare, which are technically separate entities, will be able to come on board with YRMC if they want to, said hospital Director of Operations Trudie Milner.

“We’ll bring the same level of excellence in terms of care, they’ve got a tremendous staff over there that is well known for the quality of care they give, and the efficiency with which they provide it, and that’s really what we intend to continue,” she said.

Focused Imaging produced almost 18,000 X-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans and MRIs during the first six months of 2019, Milner said.

The firm will remain in its current location in the ProMed building, 2270 S. Ridgeview Drive, Suite 127 in Yuma, across 24th Street from the hospital. A new name will be announced after the transaction closes in 60-90 days, Trenschel said.

Focused Imaging CEO Mike Doukas, who founded the company in 2002, will retire after the sale is complete, but said he is enthusiastic about its future as part of YRMC.

“By joining YRMC — with its established infrastructure and cutting-edge expertise — our doctors and staff will be able devote their time and attention toward what they do best: providing excellent care for patients,” he said.

He praised Trenschel for attracting a diverse group of new providers to Yuma over the last few years, and said they will be able to help Focused Imaging’s staff grow beyond what would be possible under the current structure.

“Everyone who works there, is a family member to me,” he said.

Trenschel said Focused Imaging’s staff has been given information about YRMC’s pay and benefits packages, and he wants them to feel comfortable as they join their workforce of more than 2,000 employees and 300 providers.

“It’s a pretty good cohort, 30 employees and three physicians. It’s a group of individuals coming over, and we’ll make every accommodation to ensure the transition for them is smooth,” he said.

For patients, radiology fees will remain where they are at the hospital, and will be structured differently at the former Focused Imaging office, Trenschel said.

“We work, as we have in the past and will continue to do so in the future, with anyone who has financial challenges to pay for their care. We work out payment methods for them, anything we can to ensure they get the care that they need,” he said.

Focused Imaging and Advanced Radiology Healthcare has become the latest in a series of local practices bought out by YRMC over the last few years, as more small offices find it difficult at best to keep up with financial and regulatory pressure as health care becomes more complex.

“It does represent a trend throughout the industry, I’ll call it consolidation. But there are many in here, we see it as a microcosm of what’s happening around the company,” he said.

Dr. Brad Dobbeling, professor of the science of health care delivery and biomedical infomatics at Arizona State University’s College of Health Solutions, agreed that purchases of smaller practices by larger systems has become widespread.

“It is a very common response for health systems to purchase various systems components like different practices, in order to create an integrated delivery system. Regional medical centers often have relatively tight operating margins and can improve them by forming an integrated delivery system, so they can contract with insurers and potentially absorb some risk,” he said.