Private equity-backed LucidHealth is touting the launch of a new two-year partnership track for physicians employed by its teleradiology company.
The Columbus, Ohio-based imaging group hired its first radiologist for the concept—which grew to become LucidSolutions—in early 2020. Since then, the “virtual practice” has grown to include more than 75 physicians operating across 47 states.
LucidSolutions hopes to hire another 15 radiologists by the end of the year, and it is trying to entice job seekers with the new partnership track perk, which starts in January 2024.
“Our future depends on continuing to attract and retain the best radiologists,” Peter Lafferty, MD, practice president for LucidSolutions and chief of physician integration at LucidHealth, said in an Aug. 24 announcement. “We are constantly reexamining our benefits and our structure. There is a need for radiologists who are committed to long-term success and who are interested in shaping the landscape of our virtual practice moving forward; becoming a partner offers this unique opportunity.”
LucidHealth said it saw interest in the virtual practice surge amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as radiologists were forced to “navigate to a primarily remote-based reading environment.” More than 75% of LucidSolutions’ physicians work remotely, with the practice also employing on-site rads to deliver support for a variety of clients. Lafferty and colleagues promoted other benefits of their virtual offering, including home workstations, the ability to focus on a single subspecialty, flexible scheduling, and “industry-leading compensation.”
Physicians at LucidSolutions currently interpret more than 500,000 studies annually, and the organization hopes to ink additional contracts by the year’s end. Its radiologists cover 10 areas of subspecialization, and the company has partnered with 20-plus hospitals and five health systems, according to its website.
LucidHealth bills itself as one of the “largest physician-owned, outsourced providers of radiology services in the country.” The company delivers reads to hospital and outpatient facilities across seven states in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast. LucidHealth was first founded in 2016, in part, with funds from private equity firm Excellere Partners.
US Radiology Specialists, another investor-supported imaging group, launched its own virtual practice earlier this month, called Connexia. Both announcements follow recently published survey data, highlighting female physicians’ gravitation toward academic practice settings that offer part-time work and remote-reading options. Experts interviewed for Radiology Business’ latest salary survey also highlighted imaging specialists’ strong desire for workplace flexibility.
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.