Louisiana Physician Group Keeps Innovative Tradition Going Strong

Green Clinic is a multi-specialty medical group of nearly 40 physicians in Ruston, Louisiana, with a tradition of providing its patients with the latest innovations in medical care.  As Chief Executive Officer Robert C. Goodwill, CPA, explains, "Since our founding in 1948, Green Clinic has had a mission of bringing the most sophisticated medical technology to our hometown of Ruston."  When the time came for the clinic to offer imaging services to Green Clinic's patients, Goodwill naturally thought of Alliance Imaging: "They're such a major player in the imaging business that I knew I had to call them first," he recalls, "and they really came through for us.  They walked us through the entire process of setting up our imaging services, providing the expertise and the capital we needed."

Because Green Clinic couldn't be certain in advance what their scan volumes would be, they started out with a mobile MRI unit.  "In some ways, getting the equipment here was the easiest part," states Goodwill.  "The hardest thing was to have enough qualified techs on hand - not easy in a small town in Louisianna.  But Alliance Imaging has consistently provided the techs we need.  In three years of service, I don't think we've been down once because of staffing problems."

With Alliance Imaging's flexibility and responsiveness, Green Clinic was able to get their initial mobile MRI unit up and running quickly.  Soon, it became apparent that the clinic had the volumes to warrant a fixed site, which Alliance Imaging was also able to provide - ahead of schedule.  "One of the great things about working with Alliance Imaging is that they specified a timeline for us to implement a fixed site," says Goodwill, "and then when we exceeded our expected volumes after about a year, they were fine with accelerating the move to a fixed site."

As with MRI, Green Clinic started out with a  mobile CT that they now expect to transition to a fixed site with Alliance.  In the meantime, Green Clinic will also start offering PET, on the same platform that the mobile CT operates from.  "Alliance Imaging worked this all out so that adding another imaging modality is just 'plug and play' for us,"  Goodwill relates.  "They even made sure that both our CT and PET platforms operate on the same power source, so we don't have to make a whole new capital investment."