About this item:
203 Views | 160 Downloads
Author Notes:
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: E-Mail: hunter@radiology.arizona.edu; Tel.: +1-520-626-6794; Fax: +1-520-626-2643.
Tim B. Hunter prepared the initial draft of the manuscript, and Elizabeth A. Krupinski evaluated and supplemented the complete manuscript with corrections, additions, and a full reference review. Both authors take responsibility for the manuscript.
The authors thank Angel Holtrust, Administrative Associate, Arizona Telemedicine Program, for her extensive help with manuscript formatting and submission.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Subject:
Keywords:
- academic medicine
- telemedicine
- teleradiology
- university-based radiology
University-Based Teleradiology in the United States.
Abstract:
This article reviews the University of Arizona's more than 15 years of experience with teleradiology and provides an overview of university-based teleradiology practice in the United States (U.S.). In the U.S., teleradiology is a major economic enterprise with many private for-profit companies offering national teleradiology services (i.e., professional interpretation of radiologic studies of all types by American Board of Radiology certified radiologists). The initial thrust for teleradiology was for after-hours coverage of radiologic studies, but teleradiology has expanded its venue to include routine full-time or partial coverage for small hospitals, clinics, specialty medical practices, and urgent care centers. It also provides subspecialty radiologic coverage not available at smaller medical centers and clinics. Many U.S. university-based academic departments of radiology provide teleradiology services usually as an additional for-profit business to supplement departmental income. Since academic-based teleradiology providers have to compete in a very demanding marketplace, their success is not guaranteed. They must provide timely, high-quality professional services for a competitive price. Academic practices have the advantage of house officers and fellows who can help with the coverage, and they have excellent subspecialty expertise. The marketplace is constantly shifting, and university-based teleradiology practices have to be nimble and adjust to ever-changing situations.
Copyright information:
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
