From Left to Right: Dr. D. Paul Matsenbaugh, Dr. James Rohlfing, Dr. Bradley Brown, Dr. Byron Faber, Dr. Steven Bell

While most business owners and key executives would love to have a crystal ball or x-ray vision when it comes to making critical decisions about their business, one Bremerton company has turned their ability to see below the surface into a life-saving asset for Kitsap County residents.

When the five partners in Olympic Radiology decided to break away from HealthSouth, a large, multi-billion dollar health services company, the move was an expensive one.

First, partners Gary Durday, Paul Matsenbaugh, MD, James J. Rohlfing, MD, Bradley Brown, MD, Byron Faber, MD and Steven Bell, MD had to build a new facility, which, at 10,000 square feet, was to be one of the single largest construction projects in Bremerton during 1999.

Then, the equipment expenditures began. Besides the various pieces of radiology equipment already in use by the five radiologists and their staff of twenty technologists and administrative personnel, the partners invested more than a half-million dollars into a Digital X-ray/Fluoroscopy machine designed to reduce radiation exposure for patients.

“This is cutting-edge technology,” explains Wendie Scott, Olympic Radiology’s director of marketing. “This equipment can reduce radiation exposure by as much as ninety percent, a benefit that many patients in the community don’t even know is available to them.”

Olympic Radiology’s facility in Bremerton

“And,” Scott continues, “since many of the patients we see (and) that are referred to us are already exposed to radiation as part of their jobs or in their workplace – such as those working at the Navy shipyards – this is a huge, huge benefit. We really saw it as an investment in the health of the community.”

Besides the digital x-ray procedure, Olympic Radiology also offers a range of other diagnostic and imaging services including MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging), ultrasounds and 3-D spiral CTs, also known as computed tomography scans.

“We opened our doors in mid-September of 1999 and in that first year we saw 10,000 patients,” said Scott. “We’ve really set ourselves up to be as comprehensive a facility as possible.” To that end, said Scott, the organization made a commitment above and beyond equipment and facility expenditures; they also made a commitment to hiring the top administrative staff they could find.

“We probably pay more, in pay and benefits, than most other companies would to their administrative staff and technologists,” said Scott. “For example, some companies consider a receptionist position a rather lightweight position and they probably don’t put a lot of their staffing attention or their payroll there. We see the role of our reception staff from a completely different viewpoint. They’re the first person you see when you walk in, the first person you talk to. They’re going to make or break your first impression of our company and we see that level of staffing as a critical part of our business.”

Dr. James Rohlfing agrees and credits the quality of their staff – and the partners – as one of the main keys to their success. “All of my partners are excellent at what they do, but then so is the rest of our staff,” said Rohlfing. “We always have to remember that many of our patients are coming to us at a sub-optimal time…they’re having a procedure done because they’re ill or because there might be a problem, and we try to treat each patient with special attention.”

That same level of attention, says Scott, is also extended to the physicians and health organizations that send or refer their patients to Olympic Radiology for diagnostic procedures.
  “If you’re a practitioner with a patient that needs additional diagnostic testing, you don’t want to wait for that procedure’s results and neither does the patient,” said Scott. “The majority of the time we can have test results back in the hands of the referring physician within twenty-four hours and that’s pretty unusual.”

While all of Olympic Radiology’s practicing radiologists (two more radiologists, Drs. Milton Michaelis and Arthur Harris, are semi-retired) continue to provide on-site, rotating service at Harrison Memorial Hospital, the decision to branch out on their own and provide a separate service facility made sense, said Rohlfing, for both the company and for the community.

“We call ourselves a ‘Center of Excellence’ and that includes our equipment, our service and our people,” said Rohlfing. “It can at times be difficult to explain to a large corporation that’s located across the country what the individual needs are in a community like Kitsap County. Now, we can simply act in the best interests of the community and know that we’re doing the best things possible for our patients.”.