by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | July 15, 2015
From the July 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
HealthCare Business News spoke with the Association for Medical Imaging Management president, David Fox, to get the latest news from the association and his take on where imaging is and where it’s headed.
HCBN: What inspired you to get involved in medicine?
DF: Thinking back, I would have to say it was my passion to help people and to make a difference. As a lot of kids do, you start thinking about the future and what it holds for you and you start pointing in a direction. But maybe you don’t always know the answer to where you want to go or where you will go. I think I was fortunate enough to know in my teen years where I wanted to go.
I was drawn to the sciences early on. So when I went to college, I had a great college experience and spent some time with a bachelor’s in science. At the time, pre-med was where I was headed, but I took a step back to look at other avenues of helping patients. It was then that I decided to further my education with an MBA for hospital management.
HCBN: How did you get involved with, and get to where you are today in the AHRA?
DF: My involvement began very early on my professional path, with Joe Daniels as a mentor. As a young supervisor, Joe made a recommendation that I could enhance my career, but I would need some professional affiliations. Taking that advice, I joined in 1997 and I haven’t looked back.
HCBN: What has been your top priority, or priorities, as president?
DF: One of the top priorities was ensuring that the AHRA focuses on leadership and continuing education. For many years, I had felt we did an excellent job with education, but probably not as strong a job in developing leadership skills for our members. So as incoming president, and then as president, I led with a purposeful focus that developing leadership skills was a priority and it has worked. We have had accomplishments with continuing education in that area.
Another priority had to do with regulatory affairs and advocacy. It had been a missing component. My past involvement with the committee was of great benefit moving forward and we, as an association, needed a better presence. Most of our membership consists of hospital directors and vice presidents. For most of our history, we were reactive and so I pushed for a role of being proactive and influencing the discussion. We needed to put ourselves in an area where we would understand the legislative impacts coming from Washington, and we’ve been working toward that goal.
The third leg for the priority stool was collaboration and inclusiveness. We want to ensure that we have a seat at the table with other organizations that have a role in imaging. As an association, we’re also working to be more inclusive, more embracing. We’re working with the other associations and getting in with the media in a proactive way as well.
