Strategic Radiology® Aligns with 3M to Offer Leading Edge Coding Solutions to SR Radiology Group Practices

(PRWEB) April 22, 2014

Strategic Radiology® (SR) announced today that the organization has signed a strategic group purchase agreement with 3M Health Information Systems to provide SR member groups streamlined access to 3M CodeRyte CodeAssist computer-assisted coding software and 3M CodeRyte CodeComplete, a fully outsourced outpatient coding service. 3M's powerful health information management tools will help SR members set standards and improve coding accuracy and compliance, while promoting more efficient, cost effective coding operations.

Together, the organizations will deliver SR member groups a platform to optimize the efforts and facilitate subspecialization of their highly trained coders across the United States. SR member groups can take advantage of innovative best practices, training, and data aggregation through 3M's easy to use web-based software and outsourced services. Built on 3M's proprietary natural language processing (NLP) technology, 3M CodeAssist automates the coding process by automatically identifying correct billing codes and streamlining the coding workflow. 3M CodeComplete complements 3M CodeAssist with a fully outsourced service that provides medical and surgical coding for technical and professional services.

"Our 3M relationship is yet another example of how Strategic Radiology's innovative approach to solving member problems facilitates collaborative purchasing efforts that will benefit its members," said Arl Van Moore, Jr, MD, FACR, Chairman and CEO of SR. "We're extremely excited to bring these world class resources and economic savings to our member groups to provide deeper integration, increased automation, and greater workflow efficiency for their respective coding divisions across the practice."

In addition, SR members preparing for ICD-10 can leverage 30 years of 3M coding, grouping, and clinical documentation improvement experience, the know-how of more than 100 credentialed 3M coding experts, as well as a decade of ICD-10 implementation experience. This automation solution can help SR members more efficiently adapt and face the challenges of healthcare reform and ICD-10 adoption.

"3M tools are widely recognized as best in class for bridging the gap between clinical documentation and coding workflows," Dr. Moore continued. "The end result of this agreement will be enhanced operational efficiency across our collective member groups that will ultimately benefit the patients, physicians, and hospital partners who choose SR practices to be their radiology service providers of choice."

3M Health Information Systems, a business of 3M Health Care, delivers intelligent software and consulting services that are used by hospitals and health systems, commercial payers, and federal and state agencies to compile, classify, and analyze health information. In 2012, 3M Health Information Systems acquired CodeRyte, an industry leader in statistics-based clinical NLP and outpatient computer-assisted coding. 3M solutions for computer-assisted coding, clinical documentation improvement, data interoperability, performance monitoring, and quality outcomes reporting help organizations achieve better clinical and financial performance.

CodeRyte, CodeAssist, and CodeComplete are service marks of 3M Company.

SR consists of geographically diverse and forward thinking American radiology group practices representing more than 1,200 radiologists. The goal of SR is to achieve higher quality patient care and more cost efficient delivery of medical imaging through an integrated approach of shared data and best practices, interchanging clinical expertise, and consolidating certain practice expenses. More information can be found on the SR website at http://www.strategicradiology.org.

Current SR members include:

   •  Advanced Radiology Services; Grand Rapids, MI
   •  Austin Radiological Association; Austin, TX
   •  Central Illinois Radiological Associates; Peoria, IL
   •  Charlotte Radiology; Charlotte, NC
   •  Diversified Radiology; Denver, CO
   •  Inland Imaging; Spokane, WA
   •  Jefferson Radiology; Hartford, CT
   •  Mountain Medical Physician Specialists; Salt Lake City, UT
   •  Northwest Radiology; Indianapolis, IN
   •  Quantum Radiology; Atlanta, GA
   •  Radiant Imaging, Inc.Pasadena, California (affiliates: The Hill Medical Corporation; Arcadia Radiology Medical Group)

   •  Radiology Associates of North Texas; Fort Worth, TX
   •  Radiology Associates of South Florida; Miami, FL
   •  Radiology Ltd.; Tucson, AZ
   •  Riverside Radiology and Interventional Associates; Columbus, OH
   •  Southwest Diagnostic Imaging; Phoenix, AZ and affiliates Scottsdale Medical Imaging and Valley Radiologists)

   •  University Radiology; East Brunswick, NJ

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/04/prweb11778242.htm