Dr. Peterson shares his thoughts on the benefits of a national radiology practice.
Dr. Matthew Peterson
Dr. Matthew Peterson’s interventional radiology (IR) career spans two separate Radiology Partners affiliated practices. For the last two years, he has practiced in Sarasota, Florida, and prior, he served a practice in Columbus, Ohio. Currently, he is a member of RP’s physician recruiting support board, and he previously served on his local practice’s board. Outside of radiology, Dr. Peterson is married with three children and enjoys anything related to sports, especially golf and skiing. We talked to Dr. Peterson to learn more about his career and his experience with RP.
“With the benefits of a strong IT infrastructure, utilization of AI, adherence to best practice recommendations and a national platform that allows us to collaborate across a large network, I think Radiology Partners allows us to push the standard of what radiologists can offer to our patients and clients.” – Dr. Matthew Peterson
Why did you choose radiology?
I was exposed to IR during my third year of medical school. I already knew I wanted to do something surgical or procedure-based, and I found the use of imaging and minimally invasive techniques in IR fascinating, which drew me to radiology. As I learned more about the specialty, the ability to impact all parts of medicine interested me. To be a radiologist, you must be knowledgeable about so many different areas of medicine, and that challenge was what drove me to pursue radiology.
How did you connect with RP?
I have been with RP for much of my career. After my fellowship, I joined a private practice in Ohio. During my time there in 2016, our group partnered with Radiology Partners. Between serving on our local practice board and the RP recruiting support board, I developed a good understanding of how RP works with local practices and the value local practices and RP bring to each other. My family made the decision to relocate to Florida, and through the connections and friendships that I had made within RP, I was fortunate to relocate to another RP practice. My experience with RP has been very positive, and it was a goal of mine to stay within the practice.
From left, RP radiologists Dr. Frank Castellano, Dr. Matthew Peterson and Dr. Tim Meier.
What excites you about RP?
My group joined RP early on in my career, when RP was also in its beginning stages. Much of the discussion was about how to make radiology better and how RP could accomplish that. As time went on, RP grew and delivered, turning those ideas into resources to make us a better practice and physicians. With the benefits of a strong IT infrastructure, utilization of AI, adherence to best practice recommendations and a national platform that allows us to collaborate across a large network, I think Radiology Partners allows us to push the standard of what radiologists can offer to our patients and clients.
What are some of the unique features that RP offers that are hard to find elsewhere?
I like to highlight to people that RP is a radiology practice that puts a strong emphasis on culture and physician engagement. RP has created educational courses to teach radiologists about healthcare business and administration so we can train our own physicians to help lead our practice. RP allows for numerous opportunities to be in leadership roles, such as local practice committees, hospital/medical directors, RP national boards and radiology advocacy groups. We have a lot of great physician leaders at RP, and there are lots of ways that interested radiologists can get involved.
How has your opinion of RP changed since joining the practice?
I did not know much about RP when our practices merged, but one of the circumstances where I saw a real impact of being with RP was during the Covid-19 pandemic. There was a lot of uncertainty in the world, with what was going on and what the future would look like. Although no one was able to predict how it would play out, RP leadership did a great job of identifying potential challenges, offering guidance and giving projections as to what to expect. The transparency of RP’s leadership provided a sense of confidence and stability, which allowed us as radiologists to remain focused on providing patient care. I do not think our group would have had the same experience had it not been for RP.
What does the future of radiology look like in five years? How will RP contribute to that?
There are trends in radiology that I think will continue. Healthcare continues to rely on imaging, and with a growing and aging population, radiologists will be pushed to find ways to be more efficient without sacrificing quality to keep up with demand. Physician recruiting and retention will be increasingly important for groups, and I think improving the work environment and job satisfaction for radiologists will be more of a focus. Reimbursement will remain tied to quality metrics and adherence to these measures will be important for groups to avoid financial penalties. These are areas that RP continues to examine and improve where able. Additionally, AI will continue to be at the forefront of our profession. In RP, we have already seen the implementation of AI technology to improve the quality of our reports in the past five years. RP is continuing to develop AI into a tool to help us perform our job better, which I think will have a growing impact on the interpretation of images in the future.
Dr. Matthew Peterson earned his medical degree from Loyola University in Chicago; completed his residency at Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, New Jersey; and completed a fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at the University of Minnesota.
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.
