The portable X-ray that never met the bill
Ward-ordered portable studies happen at the bedside, far from the billing counter. Without an order-to-invoice reconciliation, a predictable fraction is performed, reported, and never charged. The machine’s own log is the audit trail nobody opens.
Repeats: quality cost wearing a clinical mask
Positioning and exposure repeats consume slots and consumables and delay reports. Logged honestly by cause, they become a fixable technique-and-equipment metric; unlogged, they are invisible cost forever.
| Item | Standard | Consequence / owner |
|---|---|---|
| Order-to-invoice match | Modality log vs billed studies, weekly | Unbilled portables surface |
| Repeat log | By cause: positioning, exposure, motion | Technique training targets |
| Outside-film reads | Own service code, own report format | Corridor favours become revenue |
| Report TAT | By modality, published | Referrer confidence |
| Contrast stock | Reconciled against studies | Consumable leakage visible |
Outside films read free
Second reads on outside imaging are consultant work with real medico-legal weight, and they are routinely done as corridor favours. A formal second-read service with its own code turns goodwill into a billed, documented product.
What to do on Monday
- Run one week’s modality-log-versus-billing match.
- Start the repeat log with a cause column.
- Create the outside-film second-read code and template.
Worked examples on this page are illustrative arithmetic on stated assumptions, not measured market statistics.