Would You Help a Little More?

RBMA is recruiting radiology practices and imaging centers who are willing to provide charitable imaging to patients who have no coverage. The program is designed to be administratively simple and provide assurance to the participating radiologists that they are truly serving those in need and, if needed, follow-up care will be provided.

What is Imaging for a Cause Foundation?

Imaging for a Cause Foundation (ICF) is a 501c3, non-profit foundation that coordinates communication between imaging centers and Federally Qualified Community Health Centers. It has a decade-long history of fostering charitable care for thousands of patients, from Virginia to Minnesota to Washington State. Long-time RBMA activist, Liz Quam, is a co-founder of the non-profit that began at the Center for Diagnostic Imaging (now RAYUS). The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), based in Bethesda, MD, has collaborated with ICF.


How does it work?

Once an appropriate community clinic partner is identified, the imaging center and radiologists agree to how many charitable patients they are willing to see each month and what type of imaging services are included. A non-binding “letter of intent” is then formalized in which the community clinic commits to providing any needed follow-up care and the imaging center indicates how many patients it will accept each month (most centers start with six patients). The radiology practice or imaging center then assigns a unique “payer” number to the patients in this group so its system can easily track the number and type of charitable imaging services that are donated. ICF recommends that this de-identified tracking information be shared each year with both the community clinic and the radiology practice and/or imaging center.

 

What are the benefits?

  1. The program is delightfully simple to administer.
  2. It is popular with participating radiologists because they know their donated services are being provided to patients who are vetted financially for truly being in need AND, more importantly, because the participating community health center has committed to obtaining follow-up care if indicated. (With charity care especially, radiologists are often concerned about what will happen to the patient if there are radiologic findings.)
  3. Without exception, ICF has heard how the team members at the participating imaging centers appreciate that their center is involved in this charitable work, especially because it so easily fits into their regular workflow.
  4. The imaging center can limit the number of patients it accepts each month. Most centers start with a limit of six patients.
  5. The local community clinic is exceedingly grateful and usually honors the imaging center publicly. The clinic can also use the value of the imaging services as a “match” when seeking other grants.
  6. Almost all elected officials, in both parties, are supportive of the federally qualified community clinics and react positively when they hear of an imaging center’s involvement (this is sometimes also true of payers and employers).
  7. Because the program provides care to (federally qualified) community clinic patients, it avoids any federal “inducement to referral” issues (i.e., Stark prohibitions)




 

What are the next steps if are interested in participating?

Complete this form and we will help connect you with NACHC/a local community clinic. We can also provide you with contacts at imaging centers who have implemented the program for tips on how to have a smooth rollout.

Imaging for a Cause Foundation is administered by RBMA

Board Members

  • President: Timothy Trysla, Esq – Alston & Bird, Washington, DC
  • Secretary: Emilie Ellenz-Scott – RAYUS Radiology, Minneapolis, MN
  • Treasurer: Bob Still, FRBMA – Executive Director, RBMA, Fairfax, VA
  • Co-Founder: Liz Quam – Retired/volunteer, Minneapolis
  • Catherine Wisner, PHD, NP – Santa Fe, NM
  • Beth McFarland, MD – Radiologist, St. Louis, MO
  • Craig Kennedy – Former NACHC staffer, Washington, DC
  • Steve Pollei, MD – Radiologist and long-time participant in the ICF charitable imaging program, Tacoma, WA