PrimeImaging expands to Hixson
Radiology imaging service to add 4th location at former Rite Aid drug store
Chattanooga’s biggest independent radiology and imaging practice is expanding into Hixson this spring as imaging services increasingly shifts to outpatient facilities.
PrimeImaging, an outpatient service that already operates three other local offices, will add its newest imaging center at a former Rite Aid drug store location at Highway 153 and Gadd Road in May to help better serve the Hixson market. The newest site is being built and redeveloped at the abandoned drug store at 5441 Highway 153, which Imaging Land Holdings LLC bought last March for $2.65 million and is undergoing a complete renovation by L Squared Construction.
Dr. James M. Busch, the director of development and one of nine radiologists employed by PrimeImaging, said the new Hixson location comes at the request of local health care providers and should be more convenient and cost efficient for patients.
“We’ve had a lot of demand from physicians to open in Hixson over the past few years and it’s just taken us a while to find the ideal spot to provide convenience and easy access for our patients,” he said. “This new facility will offer the same 3-D mammography we have at all locations and will have the only 3T high-field open MRI in the area.”
Since Busch’s father, Dr. Joseph Busch, started the practice in 1992 as
Diagnostic Radiology Consultants, the imaging business has grown to include a staff of about 150 employees at offices in the Chattanooga and Nashville markets, according to center administrator Becky Ratchford.
Busch, who returned to his native Chattanooga in 2004 to join his father’s business after practicing at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, encouraged the radiology practice to be the first in the world to implement a comprehensive radiology interpretation software suite.
The younger Busch said that due to the demand for increased convenience and lower cost, many insurance providers are steering patients to outpatient facilities for their imaging services.
Since 2017, for instance, Blue Cross and Blue Shield giant Anthem no longer pays for MRIs and CT scans performed on an outpatient basis in hospitals across the country.
“When people choose PrimeImaging for their imaging needs, they can anticipate seeing prices that are far less expensive than having tests performed at local hospitals,” Busch said.
The new Hixson location fills the vacancy created after Walgreens acquired Rite Aid in 2016. Rite Aid built the 11,200-square-foot retail store in Hixson in 1999 but closed it two years ago after the Walgreens purchase. Walgreens operates a drug store immediately across from the store.