Content in the blog post is adapted from an article published in Radiation Oncology News for Administrators Vol 31 No 4.

Genomic-adjusted radiation dose (GARD) shows great promise in helping clinicians tailor radiotherapy treatments for patients. SROA first published an article about GARD in 2017. A new study about GARD published in The Lancet Oncology “validates the association between GARD and radiation therapy outcome in a large cohort of patients, across seven different cancer types.” These cancers include cancers of the breast, head and neck, endometrium, melanoma, glioma, pancreas and lung (NSCLC).

Teri Bedard, Executive Director, Client & Corporate Resources with Revenue Cycle Coding Strategies, discusses new technologies. This content originally appeared in Radiation Oncology News for Administrators, Vol. 31 No. 3.

Teri Bedard, Executive Director, Client & Corporate Resources with Revenue Cycle Coding Strategies, discusses the impact of COVID-19, telehealth, and hypofractionation. This content originally appeared in Radiation Oncology News for Administrators, Vol. 31 No. 3.

Patty Saponaro, Associate Chair for Administration at UNC Radiation Oncology, presented on mentoring and being mentored.

The leader’s role is to be curious, to keep learning, and to teach others, she said. You have to start with the work (what work needs to be done) and knowing what you have to offer and what the person wants. In doing so, you’re asking the person to be self-reflective about why they’re seeking mentorship.

Sunday afternoon’s general session address featured Dr. Ralph Gigliotti, Director of Rutgers University’s Center For Organizational Leadership. He spoke about how crisis has become a more negative and complex term.

He presented six key strategies for administrators:

1. Focus on items within your immediate control and influence.
2. Develop a clear understanding of your leadership goals.
3. Design strategies for meaningfully engaging others in strategy, change, planning and crisis efforts.
4. Prioritize wellness and well-being.
5. Adopt people-centered approaches for navigating the “minefield” of the post-pandemic workplace.
6. Remember your why.

SROA’s 38^th Annual Meeting kicked off with a keynote presentation by Sara Ross, Chief Vitality Officer at BrainAMPED, a leadership research and coaching firm. 

Three key takeaways from her presentation about developing a vitality mindset are:

1. Be willing to unlearn old intentions and re-learn new responses to serve that impact.
2. Shift your thinking from, “What’s wrong with them?” to “I wonder what’s going on with them.”
3. Write your own positive proof with a resilience resume. Keep it close, update it often, refer to it regularly.

Teri Bedard, Executive Director, Client & Corporate Resources with Revenue Cycle Coding Strategies, discusses the RO-APM. This content originally appeared in Radiation Oncology News for Administrators, Vol. 31 No. 3.

Teri Bedard, Executive Director, Client & Corporate Resources with Revenue Cycle Coding Strategies, discusses some common billing and coding issues. This content originally appeared in Radiation Oncology News for Administrators, Vol. 31 No. 3.

This blog post is based on “A Team Approach to Patient Care,” an article published in Radiation Oncology News for Administrators, Vol 31, No 2. The publication is an SROA member benefit.

In September 2020, Jana Grienke, clinical administrator in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Iowa Hospitals, was recognized as a “Healthcare Hero,” and her team approach to health care was featured in an article.

“In radiation oncology, we’re always uber focused on the safety of patients and staff, but when the pandemic started, it really did force us to have a different perspective and approach with things in the clinic,” she said. “Due to the urgency, we needed to make decisions quickly and sometimes in real time.”

This blog post is based on “Improving Interoperability Through Standardization,” an article published in Radiation Oncology News for Administrators, Vol 31, No 2. The publication is an SROA member benefit.

When clinics have separate standalone systems, often there are inefficiencies like duplication of effort, underuse of tools that can lead to errors from manual workarounds, and missing documentation. TriHealth operates five radiation therapy sites, three of which came online during the pandemic, so we needed to standardize workflows and software among all the sites.