Before teleradiology, turnaround times for traditional radiology reports were typically calculated in hours and, many times, days. Dr. Paul Berger and Nighthawk Radiology changed all that. After they came along and teleradiology became widespread, turnaround times began to be measured in minutes — typically less than 20.
This significantly impacted and drastically improved patient care in the emergency room, intensive care units, and other critical areas of the hospital. It also paved the way for varying levels of turnaround time awareness and heightened the need for a consistent definition to ease communication among teleradiology providers, clinicians, hospital administration, and radiology groups and their clients.
For teleradiology providers, the term is used loosely and depends on the situation. For clinicians and patients, the turnaround time starts when the order is written and ends when the report is received. This is also described as “perceived” turnaround time. The “technical” turnaround time includes the time it takes for the written order to be converted into a request for service, the time required for the patient to be transported to and from radiology, and the examination to be performed and completed in the system by the technologist.
Finally, there is the “interpretation” turnaround time, which includes the transmission time to the radiologist, the time it takes for the interpretation to be performed, the report generated, and the transmission back into the hospital system.
Where this goes bad, is when sales and marketing teams get involved, and the politics of turnaround times becomes paramount over discussion with clinicians and administrators regarding perceived and actual turnaround time.
Teleradiology providers can typically only impact — and frequently only concentrate on — the interpretation turnaround time, which is what is most commonly reported. In this scenario, teleradiology providers remove themselves from the patient care chain, and concentrate only promoting the appearance of a low turnaround time. This may or may not parallel the perceived turnaround time.
At Direct Radiology, we partner with our radiology group clients. That means we want to remain within the patient care chain, and our turnaround times include things like the transmission time and technologist study preparation time. If the clinician in the emergency room or intensive care unit believes there is an unreasonable increase in turnaround time, we want to be able to work with the group and the hospital to find and solve all the issues impacting the times.
This mindset also means we don’t have to choose between turnaround times, quality, and accuracy. Our quality assurance and quality improvement teams review the entire process, and work with our radiologists, clients and support teams to ensure our focus remains on patient care — not just a turnaround time number.
We never play politics with turnaround times. They are too important. We want to be involved and we want to make an impact on patient care with each and every interpretation. Our reported turnaround times reflect that.
About Direct Radiology
As a physician led organization, the founders and senior physicians at Direct Radiology take these 10 key points very much to heart. Our radiologists are our most important asset and how we lead reflects not only on our company but our commitment to building a strong organization and a physician group.
We “Un-corporate” teleradiology
We are a true partnership, owned and operated by our full-time radiologists and physician leadership. Our goal is to build a long-term, fulfilling teleradiology practice for our physicians while providing outstanding patient care and exceptional service to our clients.
Cost-Effective Teleradiology Solutions
By eliminating executive salaries, private equity profits, and other corporate expenses, we are able to be highly cost-competitive while delivering superior quality and consistency.
Strong physician relationships make for better patient care.
In our experience, teleradiology works best when clinicians are familiar with and comfortable with the radiologist on the other end of the phone. Our clients are covered by small teams of dedicated radiologists who build trust with referring clinicians through frequent direct physician-to-physician communication.
Our Commitment
We work in collaboration with our clients, as an extension of the group. The strength and stability of our client relationships are more important to us than growth.
We are nonpredatory. We do not displace or undercut existing radiology groups.
Call us at 651.448.1313 for more information about Direct Radiology and how we can you move into the future with a radiologist owned teleradiology solutions provider.
