Columbus Radiology announced this week that it has been awarded a new contract to provide radiology services to Mercy Health - Cincinnati. The contract goes into effect on Sept. 29.

As a part of this arrangement, Columbus Radiology will make 79 radiologists available to Mercy Health - Cincinnati and provide all hospital inpatient, outpatient and emergency radiology services.

The company says it will also focus on expanding services in breast health, oncology and neuroscience, and implementing an interventional radiology program. The contract affects four Mercy Health hospitals and various off-campus imaging facilities.

“This contract with Mercy Health brings the benefit of Columbus Radiology’s subspecialty expertise, improved 24/7 access to radiologists and radiology results communication infrastructure and processes,” Frank Castellano, MD, Columbus Radiology president, said in a statement. “Through this collaborative relationship, Mercy Health retains its local radiologists while enhancing patient care.”

Charles McRae, Columbus Radiology CEO, sees multiple benefits to this collaboration.

“By joining a larger, subspecialized practice with sophisticated infrastructure, progressive health systems and referring physicians experience an improved standard of care,” he said in the same statement. “The health system delivers elevated patient care, improves referring physician satisfaction, preserves their medical and hospital staff relationships, and provides coordinated and accessible care throughout the health system to better achieve the objectives for managing patients’ care across the continuum of care.”