Practice Management and Health Policy Education in Radiology: An Emerging Imperative

As society places increased responsibility on practicing physicians for addressing accelerating health care costs and delivery system inefficiencies, traditional education and training programs have left most physicians ill equipped to assume this responsibility. A variety of new initiatives are underway that dramatically change how radiology training programs address these issues. We review the emerging need for better physician education in health policy and practice management, detail the history and requirements of the ACGME and the ABR Healthcare Economics Milestone Project, and outline mechanisms by which radiology residency programs can comply with these requirements. We describe our own new comprehensive pilot curriculum, Practice Management, Health Policy, and Professionalism for Radiology Residents (P(3)R(2)), which may serve as a potential model for other training programs seeking to develop targeted curricula in these newly required areas.