Operational budgeting and budgetary control in diagnostic radiology

This article is concerned with establishing a revenue and expense budget for a diagnostic radiology department. It deals with setting up a breakout of examinations into specific categories and projecting the volume in each category. The volume should be expressed in RVUs rather than examinations. The volume predictions for the upcoming year would then be decided by factoring in such things as new procedures, new technology, patient day projections, ER projections, and any known outside influences. Once the volume is projected, expenses should be matched to these increases or decreases. These expenses would be prior to adding inflationary impacts. Finally, a follow-up should be performed on a monthly basis to ensure that the percentage change in volume is being matched by the same percentage change in expenses.