Teleradiology Market Undergoing Change

A recent report, titled Teleradiology Services 2011: Times are Changing, from Orem, Utah-based research firm KLAS discusses the changes in the Teleradiology industry. The changes come nearly a year after Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Virtual Radiologic (vRad) acquired Scottsdale, Ariz.-based NightHawk. According to Emily Crane, director of teleradiology research at KLAS and author of the recent report, the acquisition directly affected the largest customer base of teleradiology. NightHawk customers have reportedly with turnaround times, and reading physicians have struggled with the transition to vRad’s technology since the acquisition. While most customers are sticking with NightHawk/vRad, some are going to smaller vendors for their teleradiology needs. According to KLAS, StatRad, one of the regional vendors in the west, is on the radar of many providers across the U.S. in need of a new teleradiology vendor. Along with StatRad, other smaller vendors are expanding their presence. ONRAD has grown to be a national vendor this year while maintaining their consistent high performance. Rays, who is known for their top notch service and excellent turnaround times, has also gained some business outside of their typical Southeast region with customers validated in every region of the US. On the other side, Imaging On Call (IOC) has actually pulled back its expansion plans to focus on their Northeast regional customer base. While their overall performance score has improved over the past year, it is still below the scores of other regional vendors in this report.