International Teleradiology for U.S. grad

[shildebrecht]

One of the reasons I am considering Radiology is the opportunity to practice teleradiology while living outside the US. How common/realistic is this? How does it work? Links? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks. 😎

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[GammaRay]

One of the reasons I am considering Radiology is the opportunity to practice teleradiology while living outside the US. How common/realistic is this? How does it work? Links? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks. 😎

This is very easy to do. Nighthawk is the largest company. They have radiologists reading films from America while in Sydney, Australia. A couple of firms are also located in Bangalore and Mumbai India.

 

[shildebrecht]

What about a more "independent" set up where you read films from home(overseas) instead of a central office (overseas)?

 

[MossPoh]

I'm curious about this too...not because I am going to be in radiology anytime soon..just something I've wondered about.

 

[HA123]

I believe Nighthawk also has offices in Zurich

 

[GammaRay]

I believe Nighthawk also has offices in Zurich

They do have an office in Zurich, but it is much smaller.

The biggest intl-based telerad companies have offices where you go to work. However, there are some that allow you to work from anyplace that has a broadband connection (like home). One is International Teleradiology Corp (http://www.teleradiologyonline.com). I'm sure you can find others on the internet.

 

[physicsnerd42]

This is just an innocent inquiry from someone about to start med school in a couple of months, but if radiologists can read films from wherever they want, what's to stop radiology from being outsourced to cheaper (Indian, for example) doctors?

 

[MossPoh]

Others will answer this better (the actual radiologist) but other doctors generally like to communicate in person, as well as there are still procedures...the films from nighthawks and stuff still have to be checked over..it is just a nice way for the doc to get a bit more solid sleep usually.

 

[GammaRay]

This is just an innocent inquiry from someone about to start med school in a couple of months, but if radiologists can read films from wherever they want, what's to stop radiology from being outsourced to cheaper (Indian, for example) doctors?

There are a number of forces preventing this:

1. US law requires attending radiologists to be trained in the US. Most US trained radiologists do not want to move out of the US. For example, the Indian telerad companies have had a hard time recruiting even Indian born US radiologists to move to India.

2. Even if a US trained and ACR boarded radiologist reads studies overseas, he can only submit a preliminary report. The law requires that the final report must be approved by a radiologist based in the US.

3. Referring physicians like to develop relationships with radiologists they trust. If a radiologist is convinced based on a CT study that a patient has epiploic appendagitis (non-surgical) and not appendicitis (surgical), the surgeon will not operate. Of course, the surgeon has to have a lot of faith in the radiologist b/c if he is wrong, badness (read "death") can happen. It's dfficult to develop faith in someone you never meet face-to-face.

Telerads has, for the most part, been great to US based radiologists by allowing them to sleep at home when on call. Of course, if the server goes down or the NightHawk company gets bogged-down, you get called in; but that's a rare event. I was once concerned about "outsorcing" of radiology, but not any more. Do your own research and I think you'll come to the same conclusion.

 

[HA123]

Well said. I also think, to provide final reads (and bill for them), the radiologist must be licensed in the respective state, and if applicable have hospital privileges. I believe there are also HIPAA and liability/malpractice coverage issues.

 

[physicsnerd42]

There are a number of forces preventing this:

1. US law requires attending radiologists to be trained in the US. Most US trained radiologists do not want to move out of the US. For example, the Indian telerad companies have had a hard time recruiting even Indian born US radiologists to move to India.

2. Even if a US trained and ACR boarded radiologist reads studies overseas, he can only submit a preliminary report. The law requires that the final report must be approved by a radiologist based in the US.

3. Referring physicians like to develop relationships with radiologists they trust. If a radiologist is convinced based on a CT study that a patient has epiploic appendagitis (non-surgical) and not appendicitis (surgical), the surgeon will not operate. Of course, the surgeon has to have a lot of faith in the radiologist b/c if he is wrong, badness (read "death") can happen. It's dfficult to develop faith in someone you never meet face-to-face.

Telerads has, for the most part, been great to US based radiologists by allowing them to sleep at home when on call. Of course, if the server goes down or the NightHawk company gets bogged-down, you get called in; but that's a rare event. I was once concerned about "outsorcing" of radiology, but not any more. Do your own research and I think you'll come to the same conclusion.

Thanks 🙂 That makes a lot of sense.

 

[MossPoh]

I think the telerads stuff seems like a cool thing for someone like me...which I have a LOOOOOOOOOONG time to go before I have to concern myself with this stuff..but I have an aspiration to live overseas one day whether it be full or partial retirement. (Just one of those weird things). It seems like something like that would give me the ability to make a supplemental income as well as the possibility of continuing working with a group that I may develop a connection with......that being said it is just another selling point and I have about a million other things I have to worry about before I even get close to touching that.