Teleradiology services provider StatRad of Poway, CA, has been hired to provide nighttime reads to Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region.
StatRad will provide preliminary reads between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.; Sutter Medical Group radiologists will provide final reads the next morning, according to Nancy Turner, communications director for Sutter Health.
"StatRad comes highly regarded by each of the hospital and physician references we validated," said Turner. "We anticipate the transition occurring within the next 60 days."
StatRad CEO Joe Moock confirmed the news and said the firm would begin providing reads by the end of the year.
In April, Sutter Health terminated a long-standing contract with Radiological Associates of Sacramento and hired Radisphere National Radiology Group of Beechwood, OH. Radisphere helped Sutter transition from the local group to an integrated group model, Turner said.
"Last fall, we made a strategic decision to convert our radiology services from a regional provider to an integrated group model, and invited Radisphere to assist with our transition," she said. "Radisphere has expended significant technical and personnel resources to help us during this transition and we appreciate their assistance and professionalism. Now that our radiology group is fully functional and our needs are exclusively for after-hours teleradiology services, we are moving forward in contracting with a group that specializes in preliminary after-hours reading."
Related Reading
Sutter: Switching night-read firms? October 7, 2010
StatRad launches telerad services, August 2, 2010
Radiologist reports problems at Radisphere hospital, August 2, 2010
RAS interventional radiologists sue Sutter Health, July 1, 2010
Radisphere skirts local groups in bid for hospital contracts, April 15, 2010
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