Teleradiology Solves Shortage of Radiologists

There is a continuous demand for radiologists due to the constant change in the imaging technology over the past 30 years. A study conducted by the American College of Radiology (ACR) showed that the ratio of job requirement to qualified professionals’ is 3.8 to 1.

The common challenge faced by the hospitals, radiology groups and teleradiology practices is balancing between the workflow; staffing and financial problems while providing quality services to the patients.

Staffing requirements and procedures depend on the size of the practice. Smaller practices use part-time staff to reduce costs as part timers may not enjoy the same remuneration benefits as full-time staff. Credentialing costs to the practice may be very less, but to have consistent quality care, those credentials need to be kept active. Bigger practices have to manage PACS training, security issues, credentials and log-ons which may prove to be expensive. Part timers need to be updated; otherwise, they may feel out of place and may not deliver services on time. So in the present situation, part-time staff may not be an economical solution for larger practices.

Many corporate hospital systems, imaging centres and the radiology groups are leveraging credentialed teleradiology services to cover workflow and variable staffing demands as it resolves most of the issues. Teleradiology practices are paid for the outsourced radiology services by hospitals and radiology groups, which are more cost effective. It offers round the clock services with access to subspecialty radiologists, which may solve the staffing problems. However, the size of the business is the deciding factor for part-time staffing or teleradiology.