The Journal of the American College of Radiology published the findings of a survey seeking to explore the current state of teleradiology practice, revealing that 85% of radiologists reported using teleradiology within the last decade. Furthermore, 25% said teleradiology represents the majority of their annual imaging volumes.
What’s interesting is that while it is obvious that teleradiology has grown to be a popular method of providing imaging services, the survey was completed pre-pandemic, which means the benefits healthcare providers enjoyed before are even more relevant today.
Upping the Implementation
The pandemic forced the hand of many providers who had no option but to embrace a remote work situation. However, the survey showed that even before the pandemic, just over 20% of the respondents said at least 75% percent of the imaging interpretations utilized teleradiology.
One of the authors of the survey said, “the extent to which teleradiology has become integrated into radiologists’ careers is highlighted not just by the large majority of radiologists who perform teleradiology in their practices, but also by the high percentage of radiologists’ annual imaging volumes represented by offsite interpretations, not uncommonly a majority.”
Who Is Using Teleradiology?
Prior to the pandemic, it would appear that larger practices had embraced teleradiology more often than smaller practices. That’s not to say that smaller practices weren’t embracing teleradiology, because nearly 80% of those practices had used the technology in the last decade. However, the numbers jump to nearly 95% with practices with more than 100 members.
Given the way practices large and small embraced restrictions placed on us by the pandemic, remote work and teleradiology were equally embraced by the large and small practices alike.
Teleradiology’s Value
Given that teleradiology allows images to be read regardless of where they originate means that one of the biggest advantages of teleradiology is that it brings an ability to expand beyond geographical borders, offering more coverage, particularly in the underserved rural areas.
There is also the benefit of multispecialty coverage that comes with teleradiology and reduced read times, which patients appreciate.
Our TeleRad360 solution gives control back to you. When you partner with OffSite, you can even change the priority of your exams and get immediate feedback through every stage in the process. Contact us and let’s talk about our approach to improving teleradiology services.
