CLEVELAND, April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Franklin & Seidelmann Subspecialty Radiology (F&S) announces the addition of Richard D. White, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.H.A. White is an industry leader and educator in the field of cardiac imaging. White's role will be to help expand the company's subspecialty cardiac teleradiology program, as well as provide interpretation services to F&S clients. White also serves as professor of radiology and chairman of the Department of Radiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine- Shands Jacksonville. For link to Richard D. White, MD, photo: http://www.ggcomm.com/Franklin_Seidelmann/images/WhitePhoto.jpg
F&S provides radiology groups, imaging centers, physician practices and hospitals around the country with subspecialty teleradiology services as a cost-effective strategy to access a comprehensive network of subspecialty radiologists on a full-time or as-needed basis. Subspecialty expertise helps improve referring physician satisfaction by offering clinically specific, detailed and directive reports and consultations. Additional benefits include increased referrals and revenue, competitive advantage, optimized radiology staffing costs and reduced administration time.
"I became aware of Franklin & Seidelmann after reading an article about various approaches to teleradiology services in Diagnostic Imaging. I was immediately struck by the unique way in which F&S delivers subspecialty expertise via teleradiology, as well as how it has elevated radiologist staff quality to the highest levels. I share in the company's spirit of delivering the best patient care possible through high-quality diagnostic reports," explains White.
"I am excited to contribute to F&S as a reader, and I'm also very excited to increase my access to a broader range of coronary cases to use in training my residents and fellows," notes White, a Level III cardiac reader. "I also see that F&S will serve as a valuable safety net during those times when my department's caseload demands additional radiologist coverage, as well as an excellent source for team collaboration on challenging cases," he adds.
"There's no question about the need for subspecialty expertise in cardiac imaging," states Dr. Peter Franklin, medical director of Franklin & Seidelmann. "Rick brings a level of expertise in cardiac imaging comparable to what we have on staff in musculoskeletal and neuroradiology, and we are thrilled to have him join our team," adds Franklin.
According to White, it is very important to have a three-legged approach to a successful cardiac interpretation program: (1) perform the study correctly and provide protocol guidance to clients' technologist staff in order to optimize the radiology exposure to appropriately support the finding needed; (2) have qualified, experienced cardiac readers on staff; and (3) have the radiologists do their own image manipulation and post processing with a 3D reconstruction program, aided by the technologists as needed.
White expresses that a subspecialty cardiac radiology expert is one who has well-rounded cardiac case experience with significant depth and breadth, measured in the thousands of interpretations. Although required to become a Level I, II or III cardiac reader, certification is not necessarily the only expertise measurement. "Expertise requires a long track record of experience with all aspects of cardiac pathology, not just coronary artery disease, including diseases that might have actually been the cause of the symptoms, such as pericardial disease or cardiomyopathy," explains White. "Additionally, experience is essential in working with difficult patients and less than optimal data image sets to get the most out of the imaging data, and then differentiate between residual artifact and true disease and knowing how and when to rely on the raw images versus the post processing technology," White says, who estimates he has interpreted several hundreds of thousands of CT and MRI cases during his career. "Typically, more than half of cardiac cases produce less than ideal images due to the inherent challenges involved with timing imaging to the patient's heart beat. It takes a great deal of experience and durability to sift through all of this bad data and still be able to successfully interpret a wide variety of cardiac pathology that less experienced readers might tend to misread or not read at all," adds White.
White has developed tremendous expertise in radiology with a parallel focus in cardiovascular specialization. Previously he served as clinical director for the Center for Integrated Non-Invasive Cardiovascular Imaging, co-director, Cardiovascular Tomagraphy Laboratory and head - Section of Cardiovascular Imaging, Division of Radiology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, as well as professor of medicine and radiology, Ohio State University School of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio. His memberships include the American College of Radiology, American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Radiology, Fleischner Society, International Society of Magnetic Resonance, Radiological Society of North America, Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (founding member,) Society for Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (founding member), Stanley J. Sarnoff Society of Fellows for Research in Cardiovascular Science (senior fellow and past sponsor) and Society of Chairmen of Academic Radiology Departments.
F&S already has dedicated, experienced Level II certified cardiac readers on staff and is adding several more. In addition, F&S staff radiology technologists will be engaged throughout the process to provide protocol training and QA support for clients. F&S is expanding its cardiac interpretation services as a result of client demand. As an example, Physicians Imaging, LLC, an F&S client and an imaging center chain based in Louisiana, is making a bold move into CT angiography (CTA) services with the purchase of five 64-slice CT scanners. Physicians Imaging sends unprocessed studies to F&S, which then will utilize Terra Recon for 3D reconstruction and post processing of images.
In addition to the subspecialty radiologist and technologist staffing expertise required for cardiac imaging interpretations, technology plays a critical role in transmitting and processing 3D images. F&S is well prepared to transmit the large 3D files as a result of a new network platform and data center deployed in 2006.
An anonymous online survey conducted by http://www.AuntMinnie.com in December 2005 on behalf of Franklin & Seidelmann indicated that radiology practices were increasingly likely to consider supplementing existing staff expertise with subspecialty teleradiology providers on an as-needed basis, without the expense of having to hire a pool of experts as permanent staff.
Nearly a quarter of respondents (23.4 percent) identified subspecialty coverage as a problem in their practices, saying current coverage levels for specialized interpretations in order to support their clinician referrers' needs were not currently offered at "appropriate" levels. Respondents reported that cardiac imaging expertise was lacking in 31 percent of their practices. The 15 percent level of those currently using subspecialty teleradiology is likely to increase, according to respondents; 59 percent reported they would consider it as a means "to fill in the subspecialty areas in which resources are limited."
F&S reports that its clients increased their annual volumes serviced by F&S on average by 16 percent from 2005 to 2006, a faster growth rate than the industry as a whole. (Overall exam volume growth of 11 percent was projected for diagnostic imaging centers as reported in the 2006 Diagnostic Imaging Industry Strategic Outlook, Market Trends and Analysis by Washington G-2 Reports & Diagnostic Imaging Intelligence Report.) Further, in a recent client satisfaction survey conducted by F&S, 58 percent of its clients reported that F&S helped improve referring physician satisfaction.
About Franklin & Seidelmann Subspecialty Radiology (F&S)
Franklin & Seidelmann Subspecialty Radiology is a leading, national subspecialty teleradiology provider serving imaging centers, physician groups and hospitals. F&S provides clinically specific, detailed, directive, decisive reports that enable clients to improve referring physician satisfaction, increase referrals and revenue and optimize staffing costs. F&S reports meet the needs of orthopedists, neurosurgeons, neurologists, cardiologists, spine surgeons, chiropractors, rheumatologists, and podiatrists among others that make up the 17,000 physicians it serves who rely on strong academic and subspecialty expertise. The F&S network of more than 40 subspecialty radiologists, who combined are licensed in 50 states, includes: board certified, fellowship trained musculoskeletal, body, and cardiovascular specialists, and neuroradiologists with CAQs. F&S radiologists have advanced training in MRI, MDCT and PET/CT. F&S utilizes a sophisticated teleradiology platform to distribute images and reports quickly and securely between clients and radiologists. Founded in 2001 by two pioneer subspecialty teleradiologists, F&S is located in Cleveland, OH, with more than 140 clients and 90 employees. Visit http://www.franklin-seidelmann.com to view report samples, radiologists' bios or for more information or call 216-255-5700 or toll free at 866-4FS-RADS.
F&S Corporate Headquarters: Franklin & Seidelmann Subspecialty Radiology 23625 Commerce Park, Suite 204 Beachwood, OH 44122 Phone: 216-255-5700 Toll-Free: 866-4FSRADS Fax: 216-255-5701 http://www.franklin-seidelmann.com Contact: Christine Boehm, VP of Marketing Franklin & Seidelmann Subspecialty Radiology Phone: 216-255-5700 ext. 5712 Fax: 216-255-5701 Email: christine.boehm@fs-rad.com
Franklin & SeidelmannCONTACT: Christine Boehm, VP of Marketing of Franklin & SeidelmannSubspecialty Radiology, +1-216-255-5700 ext. 5712, Fax, +1-216-255-5701,christine.boehm@fs-rad.com
