For nearly 20 years, Toshiba America Medical Systems has been a vanguard-level sponsor of the RSNA’s Research and Education Foundation, which funds grants for young researchers in the imaging field. Since its inception 26 years ago, the foundation has provided more than $25 million in grants to 630 radiology investigators and educators. “These grants align with Toshiba’s focus on education and research,” Cathy Wolfe, director of marketing services for Toshiba, explains.

Toshiba’s education-focused collaboration with professional associations has expanded in the past few years to include the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and AHRA: The Association for Medical Imaging Management. The company sponsors the AHRA’s Putting Patients First Program, and has completed its second round of grant giving.  The program seeks to improve the safety and quality of care in imaging both pediatric and adult patients. Putting Patients First provides six grants of up to $7,500 per year to hospitals and imaging centers to help fund programs, training, or seminars focused in this area.

In 2008, one such project involved developing a patient-handoff system to facilitate transferring patients from the hospital to the imaging department. Another looked at creating a bar-code system for identifying patients with allergies to contrast media. All grant recipients agree to share their results with others so that facilities around the country have the ability to implement similar systems, according to Ed Cronin, executive director of AHRA. Cronin notes that one of the 2008 recipients developed a seminar to present to other hospitals in the region; others wrote articles on their results for the AHRA’s journal, Radiology Management.

A similar partnership with ACHE gives a boost to midlevel managers who aspire to be leaders in the radiology field. Beginning this year, Toshiba will sponsor scholarships for 60 executives to attend a series of three leadership seminars throughout 2010, 2011 and 2012. “This is a program we developed several years ago to help middle managers move into roles in the C-suite,” Peggy Gordon, vice president of development at ACHE, explains. “It’s very intensive. The seminars happen three times a year, for three days at a time and are given by a very distinguished roster of faculty teaching management and leadership.”

The first 2010 seminar occurs in June and focuses on establishing leadership; the second takes place in August and looks at innovation and overcoming the financial challenges facing the health care industry; and the third, themed Manage for the Future, is slated for October. “Part of the reason for participating in the ACHE program is helping to strengthen health care leadership through quality education,” Wolfe says. “ACHE is an impressive organization in terms of its mission and vision, and of its focus on integrity, which we thought was a good fit with Toshiba.”

Through a fourth, emerging partnership with the Society for Pediatric Radiology, Toshiba has helped the organization develop a survey to address the concerns of pediatric radiologists. “We try to look at ways to collaborate that are more unique, that provide new benefits to the organization and an opportunity for differentiation,” Wolfe says. “We believe in investing in the industry in which we work, and one of the best ways to do that is to help ensure ongoing education of the membership.”

Finally, Toshiba is continuing its support of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography’s (SCCT) Young Investigator Awards.  The SCCT is the leading international professional society dedicated to research, education and clinical excellence in cardiovascular computed tomography (CT), and is now accepting submissions for the fourth annual awards program. Sponsored by Toshiba, the unrestricted educational grants will be awarded to two residents or fellows in either radiology or cardiology for their patient care research in the categories of technical and clinical advancement of cardiovascular CT.  The deadline for submissions is April 2, 2010.   Abstracts are being accepted in two categories – Technology of Cardiovascular CT, or Clinical Applications of Cardiovascular CT.  Applicants may enter by submitting an abstract through the SCCT Web site.

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What do an organic vegetable garden, a Great Lakes water-quality analysis, and the DNA mapping of fruit have in common? They’re all science projects funded by the Toshiba America Foundation (TAF), which offers science and math teachers across the United States grants to underwrite hands-on education. Founded in 1990 through an endowment created by Toshiba, TAF provides around 150 educational grants every year, in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.

“The method we use is unique in that TAF gives grants directly to individual classroom teachers to help them with their wish lists for instructional equipment and to support projects to make the classroom more exciting for students,” Laura Cronin, director of TAF, explains. “Once the students start doing real science and get a sense of how it’s connected to their everyday lives, it becomes fun and exciting.”

Cronin explains that the foundation’s goals are aligned with Toshiba’s desire to contribute in a meaningful way to the community. “Education is always at the top of the list in terms of U.S. charitable concerns,” she notes. “Science and technology are disciplines in which Toshiba has expertise, and so through these grants we can help prepare the next generation.”

A partnership between TAF and Toshiba also led to a second educational endeavor called ExploraVision, which is a nationwide science contest co-sponsored by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). “ExploraVision invites students from throughout the United States and Canada to explore solutions for contemporary problems by imagining future technologies,” Cronin explains. “The students think about something that’s happening today that’s important to them, and then they imagine the technology 20 years into the future and invent a solution.”

ExploraVision entries are judged by the NSTA, and finalists are judged by experts from NASA, the National Institutes of Health and other prestigious institutions. “The ideas are extraordinary,” Cronin says. “The children are amazingly imaginative, and their wonderful teachers coach participating students to help bring their ideas to life.”

Cronin emphasizes the importance of working directly with teachers to create innovative new educational opportunities for students. “The teachers are the experts,” she says. “Toshiba America Foundation has a direct impact based on their expertise, and on their passions and interests, and that’s why the foundation supports projects designed by teachers in individual classrooms all over the country.”

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“By funding these grants, we are giving hospitals and imaging centers the ability to continue improving imaging quality and safety for children and adults through the development of diagnostic imaging best practices,” says Cathy Wolfe, director, Marketing Services, Toshiba. Applicants’ programs should seek to improve day-to-day practices centered around imaging and address reducing the need for radiation and/or contrast dose, reducing the need for anesthesia, improving patient communication and comfort, and/or improving the overall clinical pathway.

For the pediatric projects we are generally looking for the same types of projects as we are looking for in the area of adult imaging,” Ed Cronin, AHRA CEO, explains. “For instance, one of the awards last year went to a facility that was developing a patient-handoff system, so that patients were transferred from the floor to the imaging department via a formal system, cutting back on errors. With pediatrics, there may be some specific features that make programs different for children, but the emphasis on developing new and creative ideas remains the same.”

Cronin says that this year’s program also features an improved application process and more lead time for submissions. The program accepts applications from any hospital or imaging manager seeking to implement a new safety/quality program. “Recipients will share their processes with our members by writing an article for our Radiology Management journal or our newsletter,” Cronin explains. “One of the projects we’re funding this year even developed a seminar to present to other regional hospitals.”

Six $7,500 grants will be awarded in 2009: three focusing on improving patient care and safety in diagnostic imaging and three focused on pediatric imaging. To apply, visit AHRAonline.org or medical.toshiba.com. Entries are due October 31.

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A study spotlighting the opinions and concerns of chief executive officers, financial officers, and operating officers (C-suite) of U.S. hospitals reveals their top initiatives for 2009. Commissioned by Toshiba and conducted by an independent research company, the survey includes interviews with 60 leading executives throughout the country.

Patient care and safety, improving patient satisfaction and recruiting and retaining leading physicians are the group’s top three concerns today. Another top concern is accessing capital funds to invest in facilities and equipment, not surprising in today’s economic environment.

Carrying on with the theme of improving patient care, most of the institutions surveyed have or will expand or modify their patient safety and quality programs and they have or are increasing administrative time to educate their staff on compliance with safety measures.

When it comes to diagnostic imaging, the C-suite views having state-of-the-art imaging equipment as an important component of their ability to recruit physicians and technical staff and very important to their overall success. They also believe these technologies have improved the speed of diagnoses for heart attacks and stroke.

Other topics addressed in the study include issues related to reimbursement. For instance, have they seen a drop in reimbursement due to the implementation of Medical Severity Diagnostic Related Groups (MS-DRGS)? Nearly 80% said “No.” Or do they plan to increase their percentage of on-staff physicians if MedPAC’s (Medicare Payment Advisory Commission) recommendation regarding restructuring hospital payments based on “Episode of Care” is implemented? (Episode of Care would provide one fixed payment for the treatment of a specific illness and combines the technical fee with the professional fee.) Fifty-seven percent said “Yes, they would consider hiring more staff physicians.”

The study was completed in December 2008. A copy of the complete results of the study are available for customers by contacting Mary Kienstra, senior research analyst, Toshiba, at mkienstra@tams.com.

Like most of us, hospitals have seen their investment portfolios shrink and access to capital diminished. Pending healthcare reform and the recent passage of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program may lead to an increase in patients within the healthcare system and presents a new set of challenges. This confluence of events places many healthcare executives at a crossroads as they determine their priorities for the months and years ahead.

In the midst of this turmoil, Toshiba America Medical Credit (TAMC) has been helping healthcare organizations gain access to the capital they need to address their patient care priorities. “Our ability to secure funding from our consortium of AAA rated partners is undiminished”, said Kevin Abbott, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, “so we’ve been able to provide many of our customers with capital during this stressful period.”

TAMC provides Toshiba customers with a range of financing solutions including extensive financial product offerings, competitive interest rates, upgrade programs and quick credit decisions.

The Patient First Program will provide grants to hospitals to create programs, training and/or seminars to improve patient care and safety in CT, MR, Ultrasound, X-ray and X-ray Vascular diagnostic imaging and to develop best imaging practices to share with other hospitals.

“With hospitals being pressured to lower costs while continuing to provide the highest level of patient care, this type of program funding is more critical today than ever before,” said Edward J. Cronin, Jr., CAE and executive director, AHRA. “The Patient First grants will allow hospitals to fund important programs and training to improve the quality of care they offer.”

The AHRA will award three Patient First grants of $7,500. All eligible hospitals are encouraged to apply by completing an application at www.ahraonline.org or www.medical.toshiba.com. The deadline to apply is November 15, 2008.