Online MBA candidate leads radiology practice

It’s not every summer you get to help open a new Trauma III hospital. Dr. Andrew Mills has done it two of the past three.

“Not many people get to do that,” he said of the chance to work behind the scenes to help open two major hospitals. “Honestly, it’s a unique opportunity.”

As president of Advanced Medical Imaging Consultants, Mills has led the radiology company’s efforts to support UCHealth’s launch of the UCHealth Greeley Hospital, which opened this summer. The company provided administrative help during the accreditation process. Accreditation is a complicated years-long process working with state health officials, but he’s perfected his role in it – by helping UCHealth’s Longs Peak Hospital through the same steps in 2017.

Mills is lucky to have familiarity with the accreditation process, as he has had a busy summer by anyone’s standards. He just returned from a trip with the College of Business to China. He splits his professional life between clinical duties, where he reads and diagnoses a couple hundred MRIs each week, and acting as the executive administrator of a private radiology practice that employs about 40 doctors and 80 support staff.

Up for a Challenge

“I guess I enjoy trying to accomplish things that are difficult to do, that many would foresee is impossible at one point,” he said. “If you told me you couldn’t do it, then I’m going to do it. Then it’s a challenge. ‘Yeah, perfect. You say you can’t do that. Oh, really? Yeah. Let me show you.’”

Mills will gain a little room on his plate when he completes his MBA next spring. As part of the group of physician owners behind Advanced Medical Imaging Consultants, he realized that for all the training he received in medical school, he had blind spots when it came to business operations. The Online MBA gave him the flexibility to work around his professional commitments while returning to the university where he received his bachelor’s degree.

“Being a shared owner, you learn that you need to understand what’s going on and why things are happening and so I wanted to learn more about that,” he said.