The main difference is that VRC radiologists are primarily US based, while Nighthawk employs US trained, credentialed radiologists who may be based in Europe and Australia.
Teleradiology/Telemedicine
Telemedicine is the transmission of clinical information with technology/telecommunications across distances. Teleradiology is an important component of telemedicine in that radiological studies and images (plain films/xrays, ultrasonograms, CTs, MRIs, nuclear medicine scans) are transmitted to the reading radiologist for review. The radiologist typically is not present at the site of the study.
Teleradiology received its main growth impetus during the radiologist shortage earlier this decade, particularly when emergency, night, weekend and holiday coverage became problematic. In order to ease the problem, studies were sent to radiologists who were not only remote (in case on site radiologists were not available) but also located in different time zones (Europe, Israel, Australia, India).
Radiologists in other parts of the world could take advantage of reading US cases as part of their day jobs, instead of burdening US radiologists with night and emergent cases. However, those on foreign soil had to be trained in the US, certified by the one of the American medical specialty boards, and licensed to practice in the state where the studies were performed.
The interpretations may be either preliminary (in case the studies are reviewed at a later time by the local radiologist who issues the final report) or a final report may be issued by the teleradiologist without the case undergoing further review. Teleradiology companies often offer a choice of both services. In the last few years other countries such as Great Britain and Singapore have faced similiar problems and are outsourcing their work.
Teleradiology Companies and Quality Issues
The main quality indicators are report quality and turnaround time. This mandates that teleradiology companies have the necessary IT infrastructure to ensure image transmission and review within a stipulated time.
Nighthawk Radiology and Virtual Radiologic Corporation
Nighthawk Radiology is the first publicly traded teleradiology company listed on the NASDAQ (symbol NHWK). It has offices in the USA, Europe (Switzerland) and Australia.
Founded in 2001 as the Virtual Radiologic Consultants, the company was renamed Virtual Radiologic Company in 2006. The company headquarters in Minnesota. It is one of the few teleradiogy companies to go public. It also trades on the NASDAQ (symbol VRC). Both company share prices have been severely affected by the recession. The VRC share price all time low was $4.5, while Nighthawk touched 2.01 (although both traded above $20 in the initial stages after going public).
(All information courtesy of Yahoo Finance).
Tina Chaudhuri - I am a freelance writer based in the US. My topics of interest include movies, travel, food, and creative writing/fiction. An avid ...
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