MRI Staffing - Full Service

How to meet your MRI Imaging Center staffing needs, set job descriptions, make available positions known, find solid applicants in your clinical community, interview and be prepared to hire needed employees.
- Module #15

Determining How Much Technologist Coverage you will need

Depending on the number of scans your business analysis indicates you anticipate performing each year, and the type of scans that you project you will be performing (With and Without Contrast scans take more time, as do other types of scans), and depending on the throughput speed of the particular MRI Unit that you will have procured, which can vary by model and age of MRI computing platform , all of which will affect the total amount of scans you are able to perform per hour, per year. You can calculate the number of hours of scan appointments you can manage daily depending on hours of operation and days per week of business operation. After determination of projected annual vacation, educational training, and sick days for your technologist, you can determine how many MRI technologists you will need and how many hours they will be needed for each year. In the MRI Technologist recruitment and interview process, you can also find “as needed” additional MRI Technologist backup for vacation and holiday coverage for your primary technologist. Depending on your yearly projected scan volume, you can determine if a second full or part time technologist will be needed and should be hired.

Recruitment and Hiring

Our group has been close to the recruitment and hiring process for both MRI Technologists and Front Office check in/check out personal, for client groups and their MRI Imaging Centers, since 2006, and of course, before and during the full period of the pandemic. Assisting our clients, we have been able to find, hire, and retain, some very high quality MRI personnel. With many years of previous experience as a successful Orthopedic and Spine Practice CEO, I have hired a significant amount of medical group employees, including a significant number of MRI Technologists and Front Office Personnel. I will share “How to find and retain, high quality MRI Technologists and Front Office personnel” in the Consultation and Assistance Module.

Front Office Specialist

Depending on your MRI Imaging Center needs, and your specific business set up, you may also need to hire a front office specialist who might be responsible for: patient check in, check out, verify insurance authorization, copy insurance cards and collect co-payment or collect self-pay patient payments, and update limited medical and business records. This front office specialist can work closely with your MRI Technologist and can take the MRI patient to the dressing/locker room area, and provide them with a locker, key for their clothes locker, and gown to be worn during the imaging process.

Ideally, your MRI Technologist will receive the patient after they have been fully gowned, and pre MRI Scanning Communications will be  provided with patient instruction and inquiry on status of metal implants, not having metal objects with or on themselves, and will have identified if the patient might may have any previously unremoved metal splinters, etc. The MRI Technologist will also explain to the patient, what they will be experiencing with the MRI process, how long it might take, understanding the patient and technologist communication process during the scan, and also inquire as to the music options and systems your MRI Suite might have available should they might wish to utilize during the MRI scan. (Some of this communication will probably be provided to the patient prior to coming in for the MRI scan).

If your MRI Imaging Center is a current medical practice setting, often times the patient intake and processing may happen in the standard manner of practice processing of patients, in the main practice setting, using existing personnel. There are other factors to discuss that advocate for a different patient intake process.

Hiring an Imaging Center Manager

If you are an Independent MRI Imaging Center, or a center jointly managed for the benefit of several practice groups, you will want to hire a manager/director for the MRI Imaging Center business with the necessary responsibility for all aspects of management as communicated by the MRI Imaging Center client owners. We can assist you with this process, and also provide professional mentoring, position descriptions and responsibilities, and also facilitate training and oversite for this key individual. If your existing medical practice manager is taking on this role, we can provide them with education, assistance, training and whatever level of as needed assistance, might be needed or desired by the client group.

You will want to determine if you are going to manage and staff an in house patient billing and collections process, or outsource that to an external group. This of course needs to be determined early on in the process, and well before the opening of your MRI Imaging Center.

Our consultants are highly efficient and effective in working with MRI Imaging Center owner clients in all aspects of finding, screening, and setting employment position descriptions for MRI technologists, Front Office Specialists, Imaging Center Managers, and billing and collections team members, let us show you what really great can look like!

In this Consultation and Assistance Module we will address

*Are you an existing Medical Practice Group (or ASC), or other entity adding MRI, or an IDTF?

*Type, Age, and make of MRI Magnet you will be implementing; Manufacturer name, new/refurbished, Extremity, 1.5T, 3.0 T.

*Review of the number of MRI scans you anticipate performing per year.

*Review the breakdown of the MRI scan groupings that you anticipate performing per year, MRI only, MRI with Contrast, MRI with and Without Contrast. (Ok if you do not know)

*Review, Discuss Estimate of number of MRI scan hours in a year.

*Review, Estimate staffing requirements for Front Office and MRI Technologists. Full-time, Part-time, PRN.

*How many days per week, hours per week, weeks per year do you anticipate being open?

*In what community will your MRI Imaging Center be located?

*Do you know what the prevailing community wage is for MRI Technologists, Front Office Personnel, and MRI center managers in your community? Will your employment package offer similar wages, will it be consistent with the prevailing community wage?

*Discussion of various Staffing and Service Delivery Models.

*Discuss staff training options.

*Extensive discussion, How to find and retain, High Quality MRI Technologists and Front Office Personnel.

*Discussion of the need for employee job descriptions.

*Hiring a center Manager  Why or Why not? Who will perform that function?

*We will be prepared to answer all questions that you might have regarding this area of MRI project work.