Originally posted by Whisker Barrel Cortex
So you guys heard something about Indian radiology but did not bother to look into it further.
As for the Indian radiology thing. There are no companies providing the official report from India from non US board certified radiologists. Not many people that have gone through residency and board certification in the US want to live in India for a fraction of the income. So what the indian companies do is preliminary reads and 3D reformats. Again, not a threat.
As of now, less than 1% of radiologic images are read overseas. It is a non-factor in the everyday lives of radiologists. I do not see that increasing substantially. This is a specialty of medicine with complex licencing and certificatioin issues, not computer science or customer service.
While you are right about the current situation, I do not necessarily agree with your forecast for the future.
Regardless, some background info from the Christian Science Monitor, give me pause about the potential of outsourcing in the future:
In a small Bangalore office building, Indian radiologists are downloading CT scans done at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, analyzing them, and sending back three-dimensional computer models highlighting problem areas - though not providing official diagnoses.
Wipro, one of India's leading technology companies, has made the arrangement possible by building a telecommunications system that allows several gigabytes of data to be sent between Mass General and Bangalore every day.
Unlike other outsourcing ventures, the primary goal isn't to save money, but to alleviate stress on Mass General's radiology staff, particularly during night shifts.
"It's not really a cost advantage; it's a time advantage," says Sanjay Saini, head of CT services at Mass General and a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School. "The best place to do that nighttime work is on the other side of the world, where it's daytime."
But even if there are no savings for Mass General, the hospital is still getting a good return on its investment. The Indian radiologists are doing the work of US medical technicians and earning comparable pay, though their education and training is more like that of American doctors.
Eventually, Dr. Saini hopes to bring Indians to the US to gain medical licenses so they can return to India and offer full patient care services, albeit remotely.
But, he says, that idea is meeting with resistance. Some in the American medical community question the overall quality of Indian medicine - and the privacy safeguards for medical information sent to India.
