On Jan. 30, MEDNAX announced the acquisition of Radiology Alliance, the largest private practice radiology group in Tennessee. With this acquisition, MEDNAX officially entered the world of onsite radiology. Shannon Werb, president and COO of vRad, a MEDNAX company, spoke with imagingBiz about this announcement and what it means for MEDNAX, vRad and other private practice radiology groups throughout the country.

When national health solutions partner MEDNAX, Inc., announced the acquisition of vRad in May 2015, radiology market watchers wondered where the 50-state teleradiology giant would fit under its new parent’s umbrella. What led to MEDNAX’s interest in radiology? And, to get even more specific, why teleradiology?

The IT team at Western Reserve Hospital, a 105-bed, physician-owned institution in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, already had considerable experience with remotely hosted solutions. In 2015, the time came to consider a remote option for its new PACS. 

The security of patient data continues to be one of the biggest topics affecting healthcare providers today. How can these cyberattacks be stopped once they’ve been discovered? How can they be avoided altogether? 

While helping to steer 105-bed Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, toward a remotely hosted PACS solution, Jeffrey Unger, MD, repeatedly voiced one crucial concern: Would he and his fellow radiologists have to wait at their workstations, precious seconds ticking away, while PACS servers sitting hundreds of miles away processed massive datasets?

Radiology Alliance, Tennessee’s largest private practice radiology group, wasn’t necessarily looking for an acquisition or a merger, but when national health solutions partner MEDNAX reached out, it was an opportunity they had to consider. 

There is no doubt that vendor neutral archives (VNAs) have gained favor over the last several years in managing medical images. But there is some debate over whether hospitals really need both a VNA and a PACS. If PACS can do double duty as VNA and PACS, why do you need both? As we see it, you don’t, as long as you have a true enterprise PACS and here’s why.

Nearly two decades ago, the PACS race was on in Southern California’s Inland Empire. The main event pitted the regional medical center, 439-bed Riverside County Regional Medical Center, against the larger 719-bed Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC). In 1998, Riverside won the race by about six months, installing the first PACS in the region and, in the process, becoming the first hospital in the U.S. to select Sectra PACS.