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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At this year’s RSNA, the AHRA: The Association for Medical Imaging Management and Toshiba announced the six recipients of the second annual Putting Patients First grant program.

This year’s Putting Patients First grant program was expanded to include imaging centers and three additional grants specifically for pediatric programs. The six recipients were selected by the AHRA selection committee to receive up to $7,500 grants to fund programs, trainings or seminars aimed at improving patient care and safety in diagnostic imaging.

In its second year, this program has expanded its scope to include improving the imaging of children.  Children have special imaging needs – exposure to radiation and contrast are concerns within the industry, as is ensuring that children are well prepared for the imaging experience.  Putting Patients First will help facilities address these very specific needs.

“Grant programs like Putting Patients First are critical given today’s health care environment and the pressures hospitals face due to limited resources and other financial challenges,” said Debra A. Lopez, AHRA president, CRA, FAHRA. “This year’s winning programs demonstrated quality and innovation in patient care. They will make significant improvements to patient care and better the imaging experience for physicians and patients, alike.”

The programs funded by the AHRA/Toshiba Patient First grants include:

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston – Use of Bismuth Shields in All CT Exams

• Several recent publications report radiation dose reduction benefits when using bismuth shielding for pediatric patients undergoing multidectector CT. Therefore, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston will implement the use of bismuth shields in all patients undergoing CT examinations. Implementation of this shielding program will entail staff training, purchase of bismuth breast and thyroid shields, ongoing review of images, development of resident and parental educational programs, and a cost analysis.

Community Health Network – Pediatric CT Imaging Simulation Program

• By enabling pediatric patients to better understand the CT imaging process, radiation dose will effectively be reduced, patient comfort will be improved and the overall imaging experience will be safer. Therefore, Community Health Network will create an Internet-based simulation program to educate pediatric patients and their caregivers about the diagnostic imaging process (focused on CT).  By incorporating audio, avatars and animation through a user-friendly computer program, patients will know what to expect of the imaging process and be more comfortable and compliant during the procedure.

Memorial Hermann Outpatient Imaging Division – Improved Process Program

• Memorial Hermann’s goal is to emphasize the importance of keeping radiation dose during CT procedures as low as reasonably achievable for pediatric patients, while still maintaining good image quality. It also recognizes the need for more education for the technologists and pediatricians on pediatric radiation safety. Therefore, Memorial Hermann will implement the Improvement Process Program to: 1) document the dose electronically PACs; 2) scan once – multiphase scanning is usually not necessary in children; 3) reduce or “child-size” the amount of radiation used; 4) audit and evaluate image quality monthly; and 5) provide physician and technologist continued education.

Highline Medical Center – Improvement Project for Scheduling Inpatients for Imaging Exams

• One of Highline Medical Center’s goals is to provide a patient-centered environment that personalizes, humanizes and demystifies patient care. Therefore, Highland Medical Center is undertaking an improvement project to develop, implement and spread a process for scheduling inpatients for imaging exams to accomplish safer patient care through: 1) better communication among the staff caring for the patient; 2) increasing involvement of the patient in his/her own care; 3) better coordination between services for tests and treatments leading to streamlined clinical pathway; 4) eliminating delayed/missed or incorrect imaging exams; 5) improving patient flow to potentially decrease overall length of stay; and 6) having imaging techs rounding on patients prior to high risk, invasive or advanced imaging procedures.

Shields Health Care – Understanding and Reducing Patient Anxiety

• Shields Health Care wants to engage the patient in a common language that educates and reduces patient anxiety. Therefore, Shields Health Care will develop multi-lingual web-based tools as well as professional staff training. Phase one of the program will be to research causes and develop solutions; phase two will be to implement and cross train professionals and technical staff; and phase three will be dedicated to reflection on lessons learned and measuring program effectiveness and outcomes.

St. Patrick Hospital – Interactive Utility to Improve the Imaging Process

• Inaccurate or inappropriate exam orders contribute to increased costs to patients, staff and facilities in terms of dose, money and time. Therefore, St. Patrick Hospital will create on its intranet Web site an interactive utility that is readily accessible to all staff to provide guidance regarding appropriate imaging studies and help facilitate clear exam orders to maximize the value of imaging studies. Once the program is developed for intranet users, St. Patrick Hospital will provide a condensed version of the utility on its hospital Web site with more links to helpful information in order to improve patient understanding of the process. This version also will be a tool used by clinicians and staff when discussing exam specifics with patients.

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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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Earlier this year, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc., surveyed its customers who use the vendor’s Image Maker Marketing toolkit to understand the role of marketing in this challenging economic time. The survey results showed that marketing and outreach are more important than ever in tough economic climates. While the vast majority of respondents (from both imaging center and hospital environments) said that marketing was more important to their organizations in a difficult fiscal environment, 30 percent of imaging centers and 18 percent of hospitals represented don’t even have marketing budgets.

“If you speak to marketing professionals, they’ll always tell you marketing is more important in difficult times,” Jim Burch, director of communications at TAMS, Tustin, Calif., explains. “Most companies’ actions tend to be the opposite, however. What this survey indicates to me is that healthcare professionals understand the importance of being competitive, and in a downturn, they understand the importance of getting visibility for the type of services they offer, compared with the competition.”

The Image Maker survey reveals the ways hospitals and imaging centers market their new technology to referring physicians and patients, in spite of limited budgets. “If healthcare organizations have no marketing budget, they’re reliant on their partners to provide them with any marketing materials,” Burch says. “With the Image Maker program, we offer co-marketing underwriting, which dramatically increases the budget dollars available to them. We also provide assets like professional photography and design for promotional materials.”

Image Maker materials range from clinical images to templates for brochures and mailers, all customizable according to a facility’s individual branding and distribution requirements. In addition to providing pre-made marketing templates, Toshiba offers customers live consultation and assists customers with the design and copywriting for special projects upon request. “Our customers are front and center in the ads we help produce,” Burch says. “It’s not a Toshiba ad with their logo on it. It’s their advertisement, and we’re supporting them. The relationship is consultative.”

Burch notes that clinical images are a particular boon to facilities attempting to promote new equipment. “We supply images and information about the capabilities of the product,” Burch says. “If I’m in a facility with a new product, I may not have any images to show yet. That’s where Image Maker comes in; being able to show what the product can do is an important component of any marketing campaign.”

The survey indicates presentations and meetings are, by far, the number-one strategy employed for referring-physician marketing. “If you don’t have your referring-clinician population behind you, you can do all the direct-to-consumer marketing you want, but you’ll never be as successful as you need to be,” Burch notes. “Sharing best practices and showing what you can do for patients that’s different from the competition, or from what you could do in the past, adds another level of trust and confidence in your facility’s expertise.”

When it comes to targeting the patient population—an increasingly critical factor as health care becomes more consumer-driven than ever before—hospitals and imaging centers favor direct mail and print ads. “In the professional community, an event will probably resonate for a longer period,” Burch says. “The consumer world needs constant reminding and refreshing. More frequent communications through print ads and direct mail help make that happen.”

The survey also highlights marketing opportunities that the majority of organizations are neglecting in favor of more tried-and-true methods. For instance, few facilities are using Web-based outreach in either referring-physician or direct-to-consumer marketing. “I don’t hear a lot of people talking about electronic outreach,” Burch says. “This survey leads me to believe that the people marketing imaging services are tied more to traditional methods and need to explore other options. Those who do will probably have that field to themselves for a while, which gives them a competitive advantage.”

Burch was encouraged to see 30 percent of survey respondents reported that C-level executives were engaged in marketing and outreach. “That tells me it’s important to the mission of the organization,” he says, “and that’s what a marketer always likes to hear.”

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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.