RadNet acquires 75% interest in UK teleradiology provider
Los Angeles-based, publicly traded RadNet has secured a controlling portion of Heart & Lung Health, or HLH, a network of more than 70 cardiothoracic radiologists who serve the National Health Service as well as various hospitals and teaching institutions across the United Kingdom.
According to an announcement RadNet posted Nov. 1, London-based HLH anticipates screening more than 1 million patients for lung cancer in England alone by 2026. The practice bases the projection on a recent development involving a lung screening program run by the NHS called the Targeted Lung Health Check, or TLHC.
HLH emerged as a leader in the program’s rollout, in which individuals between 55 and 74 years old who’d ever smoked were screened for lung cancer with low-dose CT.
In September, the program’s success spurred a governmental screening committee to recommend population-based, targeted screenings for patients at heightened risk across not only England but also Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to the announcement.
The TLHC program requires diagnosticians to combine AI with expert radiologist reads, and HLH is poised to do more at the population-health level thanks to its focus on lung cancer and its use of AI tools from Netherlands-based Aidence, which became a part of RadNet in early 2022.
RadNet notes that close to 50,000 U.K. residents are diagnosed with lung cancer each year, and some 35,000 end up dying of the disease.
“A lack of screening and the prevalence of late-stage diagnoses are the principal causes of the high mortality rate and poor patient outcomes,” RadNet says.
The announcement quotes HLH’s co-founder and CEO, Dr. Sam Hare, as well as RadNet co-founder, chairman and CEO Howard Berger, MD.
“The NHS has made a commitment to fighting lung cancer and addressing the health of its population,” Berger says. In the collaboration between RadNet, HLH and Aidence, he adds, “we have an offering that can address the challenges of creating a cost-effective population health screening program in the U.K. and ultimately in the United States and other countries.”
In the U.S., RadNet operates around 350 sites and trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol “RDNT.”
Full announcement here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.