RADIOLOGY
SERVICES
CEO SPOTLIGHT
Jim Burke
Jim Burke serves as vRad’s President & Chief Executive Officer, responsible for leading the
development and execution of vRad’s short- and long-term strategies. Prior to joining vRad,
Jim served as CEO of Global Compliance, a leading global provider of ethics and compliance
software and services. Before joining Global Compliance, Jim held key executive leadership
positions with Dun & Bradstreet, including President, Global Information Services & Chief Quality
Officer; President, U.S. Customer Segments; and Chief Marketing Officer. Jim received a Bachelor of Sciences in
Business Administration from Villanova University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of
Pittsburgh. Jim also served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.
How did you arrive at vRad as CEO?
The interim CEO at the time called and asked me to take a look at vRad; he said the company had great potential. I approached my due
diligence on the opportunity using a simple framework for analysis regarding the company’s market, assets and requirements to be successful.
For example, will the overall market support growth; will the specific assets of the company work to support growth, and what’s required to
connect the company’s assets to the market potential.
What I found was very encouraging. As far as market growth, vRad was in a highly relevant, enormous market with no obvious leader – so
the market had great potential. I thought vRad could be a strong competitor. It had all of the right tools at its disposal – specifically, vRad’s
core asset was that it had the largest network of board-certified and board-eligible doctors enabled by the largest, most capable telemedicine
platform. There was also enormous potential for data and analytics to add additional value. However, execution needed to be crisp and
quick—that was the requirement and I knew that I could help. Separately, I have to say that I was also drawn to vRad’s mission of helping
people. That was highly motivating and compelling and separated vRad from an “ordinary” professional opportunity.
What did you know about radiology before joining vRad?
Zero. I can’t overstate that. After hearing about the company, I hung up the phone and quickly got down to doing my homework, both online
research, as well as talking to clinical and operational experts in the radiology and healthcare industries. I quickly became even more excited
about the company and its future.
What drew you to the opportunity?
vRad’s mission – that if we do what we are supposed to do well, we help people and make a real difference. That was appealing. I also liked
radiology and how much it was – and still is – rapidly innovating and transforming. Everything from economics to regulation to technology is
changing the business and delivery of healthcare, with all having a direct impact on imaging services. I knew that with a platform like ours,
we could actually lead that change, and that’s an exciting place to be.
As CEO, how do you approach being in “the public eye”?
As CEO, it’s less about being in the public eye and more about focusing on leading multiple groups to a desired outcome. Some of that
happens in public, but much of it does not. In our case, it starts with our patients, then our clients, our doctors and team members, and our
investors. What we do every day should be directed for all of their benefit. My focus is clearly communicating – internally and externally –
how vRad benefits all of these different constituencies. To the extent that I’m required to front that message, I’m comfortable with that.
But I don’t view it as being in the public eye; I view it as simply being an ambassador for the company.
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CEO SPOTLIGHT: JIM BURKE
Where do you think vRad will fit into the future of telemedicine and healthcare?
Every industry follows a predictable evolutionary pattern. Processes start as manual and over time become automated. Automation produces
improved access to data and information, which in turn produces insight to impact and improved workflows and decisions. You could point
to any industry and we could discuss where it is in that lifecycle. In radiology just 10-15 years ago, radiologists were traveling to the images
and hanging film in front of lights. That process is now highly digitized and automated. Images travel to doctors, regardless of where they are
located, improving clinical quality, operational efficiency and physician quality of life. And radiology is an incredibly digital practice creating
billions of images and reports every year – all available for data analytics, insight and innovation.
For example, on an operational level, insight from imaging data helps our practice make smarter decisions around staffing. On a clinical level,
we can make smarter decisions about the right doctor reading the right study at the right time. And now we are moving toward more efficient
diagnoses of patient issues through deep learning. So vRad is using data to create a more efficient healthcare system and more efficient
doctors – clinically efficient by making better decisions on behalf of patients, and economically efficient by doing more for
more patients.
How has vRad changed in the time that you have been with the company?
How hasn’t it changed? During one of my first executive team meetings, I told the team that we had the best doctors, the best workflows
and the most innovative platform with which to win. It took someone from the outside looking in to articulate that we had the opportunity to
become the clear market leader, and have fun while doing good. Winning and fun go hand-in-hand, but winning has to come first.
As we went about the business of improving our practice, we first had to define our goals: what does success look like to us? Our goals had to
line up with our constituencies: what does it mean for our patients to win, for our team members and doctors and for our investors? Then we
defined the priorities that would enable success, got the buy-in from all of our stakeholders, and then made it happen.
vRad has innovated significantly on behalf of patients. We have also produced great economic results for our investors, while creating a stable
platform for our doctors and team members to grow, work and be rewarded. That is exciting and has created a more optimistic culture that
recognizes and rewards both teamwork and individual contribution. We are all owners of our outcomes, and everyone at vRad contributes to
great patient care and great practice performance, regardless of their job description.
What keeps you up at night?
Delivering great patient care every hour of every day. I stay awake at night asking myself how we can continue to innovate and improve what
we do, and while I’m thinking, I know that there are literally thousands of patients being diagnosed by our radiologists. We have an awesome
responsibility for patients and their families. When we do it well, it makes my chest swell. And when there is a hiccup, it creates an incredible
burden to understand why and how to prevent it from happening again. As a non-physician CEO especially, I must always be completely
conscious of that.
Who has been your greatest influence in shaping your approach to leadership?
The person who always comes to mind first is Joshua Chamberlain. Chamberlain was a, college professor who enlisted in the Union Army
when the Civil War broke out and was given command of the 20th Maine Infantry regiment, not because he had any prior military experience,
but rather because he was educated and wise enough to adapt to the situations in which he found himself.
Chamberlain led the 20th Maine during the battle at Gettysburg at a place called Little Roundtop. They were at the end of the Union line and
were under-manned. The Confederates understood if they could get past the 20th Maine, they could potentially win the battle. Many senior
Union generals did not recognize the risk, but Chamberlain did. Through his personal courage, leadership and willpower, the 20th Maine held
their position. Once out of ammunition, Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge, which routed and captured the Confederates.
Chamberlain’s heroic defense earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor. He learned quickly, applied what worked in a new situation, took
his responsibility seriously, threw himself into it, created fellowship with the people who were around him, and produced a great outcome.
Most importantly, in a situation when most others would have given up and retreated, he held firm and inspired those around him to do the
same. He is a great hero and a great role model for me.
What is your greatest professional accomplishment?
I have been fortunate to have worked in many companies that were going through periods of transition and transformation. My eight years in
the Marine Corps also gave me the privilege of leading Marines. All of these experience were relevant at vRad.
However, I would say vRad is my proudest professional accomplishment. First, we had to balance great change while still providing critical
imaging services to over 400,000 patients every month. It’s exciting to problem-solve, win and see tangible benefits for all – our patients,
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CEO SPOTLIGHT: JIM BURKE
partners, physicians and team members. And that success means that our future is really bright. We are constantly challenging ourselves to
innovate and improve, and that will require a lot of hard work. But our central mission of quality patient care makes it all worthwhile.
What do you want referring physicians to know about vRad?
Referring physicians should know that we care very much about their patients and we care very much about them. Day in and day out, our
company is committed to excellence. I think we do a great job, and more importantly, in moments when we learn that we have potentially
fallen short, we are 100% committed to understanding why and what to do about it so that it does not happen again. We are constantly
innovating internal processes on behalf of patients. We want to give our doctors the tools needed to be successful and ultimately deliver the
best service. We take our mission very seriously.
What do you want patients to know about vRad?
It is the same as what I want referring physicians to know: we know that there are people behind every image – mothers, fathers, sons and
daughters – all expecting and deserving of the highest quality care.
In addition, I hope they know we do everything we can do to make sure that our doctors are the right doctors, that our doctors are enabled
through data and technology to do the best job possible for patients.
Why is vRad the partner of choice?
vRad is in great shape, and MEDNAX is a great owner. The successful transformation of vRad over the past few years has now enabled me
and others to focus on the future. I tell clients, team members and physicians all the time that while my job as CEO is to ensure we stay on
top of solving today’s problems, we must be even more focused on understanding what our environment will demand of us a few years out.
We can fix an operational issue overnight, but developing new technology to take better care of patients takes significant lead time. The use
of data and deep-learning technology to help physicians make better diagnostic decisions is an example of where we are investing, and part
of that natural evolution I mentioned earlier. We will continue delivering quality care expected of the market leader. And, we will continue
to invest and innovate. There is no practice better positioned to leverage data to make doctors more successful on behalf of patients than
vRad. Nobody.
So to answer your question, we are the partner of choice because we always stay focused on patient care, right here, right now. And we also
have laser-light focus on what will be required of us in the future. It’s a difficult balance, but we have the people, resources and support to
get it right.
Learn more about us.
Contact vRad today at
800.737.0610 or go to
www.vrad.com.
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