What's Next?

Now that PACS has redefined Radiology workflow providing many improvements in medical imaging services, What’s Next? A PR representative for Merge Healthcare recently asked me this question while introducing me to Merge’s new Merge TeleRead™ & Consult PreReads™ products and services.

Leadership at Merge say they have the “Secret Sauce” to take referral reads and pre-reads to the next level using specialized software and workflow to create greater efficiency and reporting accuracy.

I Googled Tele-rad and Radiology Pre-reads to find that there is a huge market for Tele-Radiology services. Tele-Radiology is at a crucial point where the right technology and processes could mean success or failure. Advances in Tele-Radiology will mean big changes for Radiologists, diagnostic interpretations and reporting processes world wide. My brief research session also found that more than three dozen Tele-Radiology vendors held exhibits at RSNA 2007, a major increase from the previous years.

Although I don’t think it’s safe to say that Radiology reading services are going global, it’s obvious that some change is on the way. It will be interesting to see how US Radiologists, ImagingCenters and departments react to this new era.

What’s next for your Radiology environment? Do you plan to increase or decrease your Radiologist staff? Is a Tele-Rad service or a Pre-read consult in your Radiology services roadmap?