Surgery chain opens freestanding imaging center as safer alternative to hospital-based radiology referrals
A Virginia-based surgery center operator has opened its own 5,800-square-foot imaging center, hoping to provide a safer alternative to hospital-based radiology services.
Medarva Healthcare announced the opening of the new facility in Henrico, Virginia, late last month. It’s located in the same medical building just next door to its West Creek Surgery Center and will offer the full range of imaging services including MRI, CT and x-ray.
Radiology Associates of Richmond will work in tandem with Medarva to interpret scans, while the surgery chain plans to employ one part-time and three full-time staffers at the center. Company officials hope patients will see their new facility as a safer option during the pandemic, Richmond BizSense reported Monday.
“As a freestanding facility, Medarva’s imaging center is not located in a hospital where patients could be exposed to congested areas like waiting rooms, have to search for parking, or walk long distances to where they are receiving care,” Kara Sigmon, the center’s director of radiology, told the news website.
A Sept. 28 post on its Facebook page also highlighted the surgery company’s newfound ability to “create a comprehensive continuum of outpatient care without the inconvenience—and cost—of a trip to the hospital.” Medarva also operates a second outpatient surgery center on Stony Point Parkway in Richmond, and has a network consisting of more than 180 physicians, according to its website.
Radiology Associates of Richmond, meanwhile, is one of the oldest private imaging practices in the U.S., around since 1905. It employs 60 physicians and earlier this year joined the Strategic Radiology coalition of independent practices.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.