We Are Live at RBMA PaRADigm 2026 with Karl Hellerich

Kevin Chmura

Welcome to Beyond the Bottom Line. I’m your host, Kevin Chmura, CEO of Panacea Healthcare Solutions. And today I’m talking to Karl Hellerich, our Executive Vice President of Business Development, who’s on the ground live at the 2026 RBMA PaRADigm Annual Meeting in Orlando. For those of you who don’t know, RBMA is the Radiology Business Management Association. It’s the premier association for those that are engaged in the radiology business and all things surrounding radiology. So Karl, how’s it going down there? What’s the buzz on the floor?

Karl Hellerich

Yeah, Kevin, thanks for having me. Yeah, energy, that’s the one word I think you can say here. Over 700 professionals in the radiology business that are here. This is their annual event, sort of their Superbowl.

A lot of traffic, a lot of energy, lot of good conversation going on down here. It’s been you know a really interesting time for us being down here being there’s so many changes going on in the radiology business. So this is an event that has taken a lot of precedence and it’s an event that you know you’ve seen a lot of activity and a lot of participation from different individuals.

So glad to be here. Yeah and I’ll update you as we go along with everything that’s going on down here, but it’s been a wonderful events so far, and I look forward to the upcoming day until we’re done. So thanks for having me.

Kevin Chmura

Is there any, uh, any theme that you’re seeing coming out of sessions or conversations that you’re having with people about challenges in the business?

Karl Hellerich

Yeah. So, uh, besides just general conversations with leaders in the industry and attending the sessions, uh, there’s been several different, uh, topics that have been covered, uh, numerous times. And I think a lot of people are discussing down here. One of them that you might want to imagine is AI and the changes it’s having on people’s business and how they operate now and moving forward. That’s been an ongoing topic as it is with some of the other participants, such as you know the partners and the other individuals that are down here not just the radiologist about you know how is AI helping them you know work with the radiology practices and the different people in radiology throughout? Some other things that have been discussed, believe it or not, even though AI is a growing buzzword and something that’s happening, there’s still a shortage of radiology professionals throughout the United States. So there was a lot of conversation with regards to helpful hints, how to recruit, how to maintain professionals in this business, and other ways you gotta combat some of the fatigue and things that are going on with the current professionals that you do have.

So that was a very interesting session and conversation that I had with some folks in this business, happy to run a very big practice in the United States with some difficulty based on some shortages. There’s some changes coming in the Medicare realm in 2027 with regards to payments. That’s always a hot topic.

So there’s been discussions around negotiations with those payers as well as preparing for those changes in 2027. How am I going to negotiate to my other contracts, perhaps with the hospital, or perhaps with the professionals that are working for me? Just to combat some of those changes that are going to happen in Medicare in 2027.

So those have been like the three things that have been the hot topics over the course of the last two days of being here.

Kevin Chmura

Yeah, that’s interesting. AI was an early penetration in radiology for coding, for automated coding, but you still need radiologists to do the reads, right? And then those are later coded.

So you have a bit of a conflict there of probably being able to staff down, but also needing to staff up at the same time. So interesting stuff. So you’re there with a team of folks from Panacea and you’re representing all three of our brands. For the listeners, that’s Panacea Healthcare Solutions, First Healthcare Compliance, and MedLearn Media.

Karl, maybe just take another minute. Curious how people are having us there, representing all three brands, and what types of conversations you’re having about how we can help people overcome some of those challenges.

Karl Hellerich

Yeah, so the dynamic and the individuals that attend here come from various different areas of these practices, right? So there’s administrators that are here.

A lot of those folks would be centered around perhaps MedLearn Media and some of the education for their employees and continue education around radiology, something that MedLearn is prominent in that market for, as well as handling that compliance component in which First Healthcare specializes in. A lot of these administrators run these large practices, and a lot of that comes under more of an administrative burden, right? From making sure that your folks that are working for you are compliant. You know, they do their OSHA and the HIPAA training and on the same side are educated with the changes that are coming down the pipe for radiology with regards to codes and things of that nature.

So very interesting conversation among those two leaders here alongside of me at the conference. And then it really, it ties into the other individuals, the revenue cycle folks who are really making the business run from a financial perspective. Like how we can help them, you know, tighten up things in some areas? Perhaps be a benefit to them with regards to some of the usual revenue cycle, you know, issues they face, which is on the, you know, on the billing side, which is, you know, on the coding side and things of that nature.

So it’s been interesting kind of pulling through all three together. I think the dynamic of the different individuals that are down attending this conference is over 700 individuals here. A lot of administrative folks, a lot of radiologists themselves, and then a lot of practice managers. So that diversity of the actual folks that are attending allows for all three of our suites really to have different conversations with those different folks.

So it’s been an interesting, and quite frankly, a very busy two days here. Booth traffic’s been good, and a lot of the events being held have been extremely well attended. So I look forward to talking with some more of those folks over the next day.

Kevin Chmura

All right, great. Well, why don’t I let you get back to that?

So, Karl, thanks so much for joining us.

Karl Hellerich

Oh, a pleasure. Anytime, Kev. Thanks for having me. I’ll talk to you when I get back and I’ll speak with you soon.

Kevin Chmura

All right. To all of our listeners, thanks for tuning in. If you want to learn more about Panacea, First Healthcare Compliance, or Medlearn Media, check out the link in the show notes or visit our website. Thanks, everybody. Talk to you soon.