On July 1, 2013, Eagle Imaging of Oklahoma and Texas became the first practice to join Radiology Partners.
Eagle Imaging began with eight subspecialty radiologists. “We started as friends with the goal of being the best radiology practice we could possibly be,” said Dr. Byron Christie, former RP Eagle practice president and current RP associate chief medical officer for integrations.
Eventually, that meant Eagle Imaging was looking to expand and gain support. “We needed to be able to offer the on-site services that people needed and the IT that allowed us to do it,” Dr. Christie explained. “RP offered us our own internal after-hours services, IT support and administrative teammates.”
Dr. Tony Toppins, current RP Eagle practice president, believes both Eagle and RP have greatly benefited from the partnership. “For me, I look at it as ‘Are the individual parts stronger now than we would have been alone?’ Clearly, the answer to that question for me is yes.”
As RP’s first practice, Eagle Imaging was at the very beginning of RP’s exponential growth, and Dr. Christie appreciates seeing the benefits of RP’s scale. “From 2004 to 2006, I was a solo radiologist in Duncan, Oklahoma, where I started Eagle,” he said. “Now, to be part of the biggest radiology practice in the nation is a big transformation. In that time, I’ve gone from the leader of a relatively small regional practice to leading a team that does integrations all over the country.”
Dr. Toppins agrees. “I went from semi-academic type radiologist in a big group to basically doing everything in a very small group of eight or nine radiologists,” he said. “Now here we are with thousands of radiologists who I truly consider partners.”
He credits culture as the defining factor in the success of a radiology practice. “All of the original Eagle radiologists who were with us when we joined RP are still part of Eagle and still part of RP, which is a big testament to the Eagle culture being strong and sustaining and likewise the RP culture.”
Dr. Byron Christie (LinkedIn) is a practicing radiologist and serves as ACMO of Integrations for RP. Dr. Tony Toppins is a practicing radiologist and serves as practice president for RP Eagle. Radiology Partners, through its owned and affiliated practices, is a leading physician-led and physician-owned radiology practice in the U.S. Learn more about our mission, values and practice principles at RadPartners.com. For the latest news from RP, follow along on our blog and on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. Interested in learning about career opportunities? Visit our careers page.
