As medical costs have risen, medical facilities are trying to use technology to help keep costs down. Government programs have only made things more expensive, and lessened the availability of property healthcare for many people. Technological innovation is bringing us option, such as teleradiology services.
Everyone who has ever read a hospital bill has seen the radiology entry in the itemization of charges. Few really understand what the term means, or they believe it applies only to x-rays obtained during a hospital visit. MRIs, CAT scans, and CT scans are all examples of radiological examinations, and all of these require an expert to evaluate the images in order to come to proper diagnosis or treatment.
Most private medical practices have to send their physical images to a local service in order to have them evaluated properly. For this reason, it is not uncommon for patients to be transported to area hospitals for treatment of broken bones, or evaluation of a patient complaining of chest pain. Local urgent centers often have patients transported via ambulance or Life-Flight, at great cost to the patient.
These small practices are generally not big and rich enough to be able to afford on-site radiologists. Even area hospitals are not always able to support such an expensive service considering radiologists can charge up to $1,500.00 per day for their presence in the hospital environment. However, having such a professional available to evaluate certain tests is a requirement for providing proper medical care.
Radiologists who specialize in ultrasound technology are often on their own in an OB/GYN office. There are instances where the radiologist may wish to have a second set of eyes on the images he or she is taking, and that person needs this to be available in real time since the measurements and general evaluation of the ultrasound is done in real time. We now have the technology to allow this to happen.
Pregnant women are not the only ones who can benefit from the availability of more than one radiologist. Patients who present with chest pain or have a history of strokes and other cardiology concerns are usually sent to larger area hospitals. Not only does this extend the time it takes to get proper diagnosis or treatment, but it increases the cost to the patient exponentially.
Online radiology services mean real-time evaluations can be done at smaller facilities or small-town hospitals. It also means expert evaluation is there for those in third world countries, or anyone being assisted by the Doctors Without Borders ship. The radiologists themselves are on-call for long periods of time, but they are otherwise able to live where they like, and can sometimes even work from home.
Offsite radiologists are able to charge per image rather than charging the facility for an entire day. This means they are somewhat inconvenienced at being placed on-call, but the cost of their service to hospitals, and eventually to patients, goes from the thousands to less than $100 for the image. Patients are advised to look at their bills closely to make sure that savings is being passed on to them.
Everyone who has ever read a hospital bill has seen the radiology entry in the itemization of charges. Few really understand what the term means, or they believe it applies only to x-rays obtained during a hospital visit. MRIs, CAT scans, and CT scans are all examples of radiological examinations, and all of these require an expert to evaluate the images in order to come to proper diagnosis or treatment.
Most private medical practices have to send their physical images to a local service in order to have them evaluated properly. For this reason, it is not uncommon for patients to be transported to area hospitals for treatment of broken bones, or evaluation of a patient complaining of chest pain. Local urgent centers often have patients transported via ambulance or Life-Flight, at great cost to the patient.
These small practices are generally not big and rich enough to be able to afford on-site radiologists. Even area hospitals are not always able to support such an expensive service considering radiologists can charge up to $1,500.00 per day for their presence in the hospital environment. However, having such a professional available to evaluate certain tests is a requirement for providing proper medical care.
Radiologists who specialize in ultrasound technology are often on their own in an OB/GYN office. There are instances where the radiologist may wish to have a second set of eyes on the images he or she is taking, and that person needs this to be available in real time since the measurements and general evaluation of the ultrasound is done in real time. We now have the technology to allow this to happen.
Pregnant women are not the only ones who can benefit from the availability of more than one radiologist. Patients who present with chest pain or have a history of strokes and other cardiology concerns are usually sent to larger area hospitals. Not only does this extend the time it takes to get proper diagnosis or treatment, but it increases the cost to the patient exponentially.
Online radiology services mean real-time evaluations can be done at smaller facilities or small-town hospitals. It also means expert evaluation is there for those in third world countries, or anyone being assisted by the Doctors Without Borders ship. The radiologists themselves are on-call for long periods of time, but they are otherwise able to live where they like, and can sometimes even work from home.
Offsite radiologists are able to charge per image rather than charging the facility for an entire day. This means they are somewhat inconvenienced at being placed on-call, but the cost of their service to hospitals, and eventually to patients, goes from the thousands to less than $100 for the image. Patients are advised to look at their bills closely to make sure that savings is being passed on to them.
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You can get a summary of the things to consider before picking a provider of teleradiology services at http://www.spot-on-radiologist.com/services right now.
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