Paul and Kim Kuna won the 2008 Arkansas Small Business Persons of the Year award. Southeast X-ray was featured in the Southwest Times Record.
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KAIA LARSEN * TIMES RECORD Paul and Kim Kuna won this year's Arkansas Small Business People of the Year Award. The Kunas' Ozark-based company, Southeast X-Ray Inc., operates a chain of 35 radiology and medical evaluation clinics in seven states across the country. The couple started the company in 1999 and today have 40 employees.
X-Ray Vision

By Tara Muck

TIMES RECORD * TMUCK@SWTIMES.COM


When Paul Kuna first started in the X-ray business in 1969 while in the Army, technology had yet to give him the opportunity to reach the masses.

Thirty years later, he was able to do just that when he and his wife, Kim, formed Ozark-based Southeast X-Ray Inc. in 1999. What started as a two-person operation has now grown to employ 40 people - seven at their home office - with 35 locations in seven states.

Southeast X-Ray provides service to nursing homes, psychiatric facilities and rural clinics. But it was with veteran services that the Kunas first landed a contract in California, becoming the bread and butter of their work.

The work in federal and private sectors has enabled the company's revenue to reach the seven-figure mark. Without divulging total sales, Kim Kuna said Southeast X-Ray maintains about a 25 percent growth each year.

The company doesn't do much in supplying X-ray or radiology equipment to those industries. The bulk of their business comes from contracts supplying radiology service from the images to the technicians to the radiologists who read the images.

Technology is king. In many clinics, X-rays are now digital. Film is no longer plastered to the light and read. Instead, the digital images are sent to the doctor's computer within seconds, Paul said. Through Southeast X-Ray's technology service, after the image is received, it can then be manipulated and enhanced for a more accurate reading.

"That's one of the advancements in recent technology," Paul said. "That's the reason we can maintain clinics coast to coast. We offer stat readings within minutes."

In many locations across the United States, the company leases space from the provider and they hire independent radiologists to handle radiology work. In other facilities, they provide over-read services to hospitals, urgent care clinics and doctors' offices that don't have a radiologist on hand. Instead, X-ray images are sent to Southeast X-Ray, where they can be read by a radiologist who then sends back a report.

Kim said the company handles about 14,000 to 18,000 X-rays per month. Security is of the utmost importance. Since the company's Web site is used for the providers to access images, it is password-protected.

So at their home office in Ozark, they have a complete information technology department. They have written their own software program to transmit and archive the images, and a viewing station allows clients to log in and access the images.

Telemedicine

Southeast X-Ray's service is much like telemedicine services. Telemedicine, the term used for applications that use technology to move medical information over a distance, enables not only patients and facilities to use high-tech capabilities but also companies to take advantage of the need. According to a 2007 study conducted by the National Center for Rural Health Works at Oklahoma State University, four hospitals surveyed in Oklahoma, including Poteau, used radiology telemedicine services more than 45,000 times annually. It's a national trend that is growing rapidly. According to the American Telemedicine Association, there are about 200 existing telemedicine networks in the United States, with programs reaching close to 2,000 medical institutions.

With the Veterans Health Administration being the largest provider of remote medical services, Southeast X-Ray has been able to get a piece of the federal telemedicine market that was estimated at $270 million in 2003.

Being a veteran himself, Paul has long been focused on giving back to other veterans. Through their services and technology, they have been able to help veterans or soldiers leaving the military with disability claims.

Small Business

Southeast X-Ray's growing business caught the attention of the Small Business Administration. And earlier this month, the Kunas were recognized as this year's Small Business Administration People of the Year in Arkansas. When looking for companies that have various benchmark successes, with increases in employment and sales, as well as longevity, it was a company that stood out to Linda Nelson.

"One of the things that appealed to us is that he is a veteran, and a lot of his services have been geared to helping ongoing veterans," said Nelson, Arkansas District Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration. "I guess it just so impressed me and made me realize that small businesses do things out of the box. And here he is, operating out of Ozark, Arkansas."

Nelson said another factor that weighed into the decision was the Kunas' involvement in the community. For the past 11 years, Kim Kuna has worked for Ozark area youth organizations, as well as being involved in Boy Scouts. Paul runs a motorcycle training program in Oklahoma.

"There's just no end to the ideas and the changes they make," Nelson said of small businesses. "I'm constantly amazed. Without a doubt, small businesses that are involved in the community are the ones that have longevity."