By Ron DiGiaimo, MBA, FACHE, John Montville, MBA, FACHE, FACMPE, FACCC, COA, Marc Gelinas, MHA, CMPE, FACHE, and Bri Driggers​

Whether you started as a radiation therapist or nurse and worked your way up to management or you are coming into the role from the business and healthcare administration side, accepting a role in radiation oncology administration is a huge career step. Every patient who steps into your office is dealing with immense physical, emotional, and potentially financial difficulties, and they are counting on you to ensure they get the best care available.
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We understand that this can be quite a daunting undertaking for anyone. As a result, we sat down with some of the industry’s most experienced radiation oncology administrators to ask them what they wished they had known at the start of their careers. Ron DiGiaimo (CEO of RCCS), John Montville (executive director of Oncology Service Line at Bon Secours Mercy Health/Lourdes Hospital), and Marc Gelinas (VP of The Oncology Group) have five pieces of advice to help new administrators thrive during their first few years in the role.

Activation of Validation Edits

After being delayed multiple years and completing five rounds of testing, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin deploying validation edits for providers with multiple service locations beginning August 1, 2023.
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There are an increasing number of hospitals which operate off-campus, outpatient, provider-based departments of the hospital. Since there is the possibility for these additional locations to be in a different payment locality than the main provider, CMS uses the service facility address of the off-campus, outpatient, provider-based department to determine the locality. CMS also requires non-excepted services provided at these locations to be identified, so that the payment rate for non-excepted items and services billed are paid under the Medicare physician fee schedule (MPFS), and not the outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS).

By: Ashley Mulaik, MBA, and Bri Driggers

In 2020, over half of the working physicians in the United States worked for private practices. These practices are wholly owned by physicians rather than hospitals, health systems, or other third parties.
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There are several reasons why physicians might choose private practice over a larger healthcare system, particularly the chance for more autonomy and less bureaucracy. Partners at a practice work together to make decisions about processes and services democratically based on what they think is best for their patients rather than being told what to do by a higher-up.