Diversified Radiology of Colorado Partners with 12 Radiology Practices to form a National Consortium

Thirteen private practice radiology groups across the U.S. have formed a consortium called Strategic Radiology.

Strategic Radiology plans to share data and clinical practice information among its members, as well as consolidate certain practice expenses. The consortium will expand access to radiology subspecialization within member groups and establish measurable standards for clinical quality

To read more about this click here: http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/display/article/113619/1528706?CID=rss&verify=0

Diverisified Radiology of Colorado Radiologist urges women in the Vail Valley to continue checking for early breast cancer.

A recent article published by the Vail Daily Newspaper is aimed to educate the women of Vail Valley on the importance of continued screening for breast cancer despite the recent announcement by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force.  Dr. Janice Ugale, a radiologist at Diversified Radiology of Colorado and the medical director of the Sonnenalp Breast Center at the Shaw Regional Cancer Center in Edwards Colorado, stresses the importance of contiuned self breast exam and annual screening mammography begining at age 40.  To read the entire article please click here http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20091202/NEWS/912019950&parentprofile=search

Dr. Jerome Schroeder’s editorial in respomse to the recent guidelines issued by the USPSTF regarding the change in screening mammography in women.

Dr. Jerome Schroeder, the Medical Director of Imaging at the Breast Care Center at Exempla St. Joseph Hospital and a partner at Diversified Radiology of Colorado, responds to the recent announcement by the United States Preventative Task Force (USPSTF) regarding a change in screening mammography for women over 40. 

To read Dr. Schroeder’s full editorial click here.

To read the condensed editorial click here.

Diversified Radiology of Colorado and The White House Office of Management and Budget are in sync with the importance of quality in health care reform.

The White House Office of Management and Budget highlighted some of the proposed reforms in congress for the Health Care system. Two bullet points dovetail with Diversified Radiology’s emphasis on quality interpretations of high quality exams by subspecialty trained radiologists: ACO’s and Quality incentives for physicians. The link below discusses these reforms and other initiatives at improving national health care.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/blog/09/10/13/BendingtheCurveinMoreWaysThanOne/

What is the ACR and why do I care?

The ACR or American College of Radiology consists of over 32,000 members.  This is made up by radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists, interventional radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians. The purpose of the ACR is to make imaging safe and accessible to patients.

The mission of the ACR is to continually advance the science of radiology; including interventional and nuclear medicine modalities, radiation oncology, and medical physics. This is all done to improve patient care and continually educate fellow medical professionals on the future of radiology.

The radiologists at Diversified Radiology of Colorado are adamant about only reading studies performed at facilities accredited by the American College of Radiology (ACR). Doing so ensures that the imaging techniques meet or exceed quality assurance and safety guidelines. Why is this important? More on that next week…................

How long untill handheld devices are used for patient education?

Recently at the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine meeting (SIIM) research was presented on using handheld devices for patient education and image viewing. There are workflow issues that still need to be investigated, but the overall message is that mobile device technology is near a point that it can be used by physicians to educate patients on their health.

Because more than half of the population have been identified as visual learners, having this technology is critical to enhancing patient care. This could help bridge the communication gap that is often present between physicians and patients.

The Radiologists at Diversified are used to keeping up with the ever changing technology in the medical industry. We keep security, image quality and transmission time on the forefront as we make technological advancements to become more efficient for our physician and hospital partners.

Exciting opportunities lie ahead in today’s medical field. Who knows, perhaps reading a patients imaging study and communicating to a referring physician on an iPhone won’t be to far off in the future.

Summer is here let those legs show!

To some people varicose veins and spider veins are a simply a cosmetic concern, but for others they can often cause pain and discomfort. With the new medical laser technology there is a way to eliminate your varicose and spider veins without surgery.

The Radiologists at the Diversified Vein and Interventional Clinic are experts in the nonsurgical treatment of varicose veins. Using the Endovascular Laser Venous System (ELVS) unsightly varicose veins are eliminated in our outpatient office,  typically within an hour. One of the many benefits is there is virtually no down time.  Patients are  walking after the procedure,  and you are able to return to normal activity within a day or two.

Spider veins are a smaller version of a varicose vein. Most often, people who have spider veins do not have any kind of symptoms. Spider veins are easily treated by our Interventional Radiologists in a matter of minutes. There are very few side effects and risks associated with these procedures.

For more information please click here: http://www.divrad.com/index.php/expertise/details/varicose-vein-treatment/ or call the Diversified Vein and Laser Clinic at 303.226.7225.

Time for a change, The NY Times reports

The New York Times reported on the new model of healthcare that UnitedHealth Group is testing in a handful of states including Colorado. This plan gives patients what they call a medical “home”  that oversees their care even when the patient is seen by specialists or requires hospitalization. The medical home model is intended to fix some of the major shortcomings of healthcare delivery in the United States and according to Dr. Jim Dearing of Phoenix, AZ, “This gives us the opportunity to create a model to allow family physicians to practice medicine the way we used to practice in the past.”

“Subspecialization adds value to the patient’s medical care,” adds Sean Bryant, MD of Diversified Radiology headquartered in Denver, CO which provides specialized radiography reading services to healthcare facilities in the metro area and continents away.

Today’s medical insurers typically reward doctors for how many tests or procedures they perform on the patient vs. how effective their care is. The general physician isn’t compensated for helping patients navigate specialists or follow-up care. Using the home care model, UnitedHealth has said it will compensate physicians with a quarterly management fee for overseeing their patients’ care plus bonuses will be awarded based on patient satisfaction, especially when that monitoring prevents costly and unnecessary hospital stays.

The facts of life: The bees and the specialists

When it comes to one’s health, most patients entrust the management of their care to a highly trained medical doctor. On occasion, particularly when the patient’s needs demand it, that doctor is a specialist. Trained in all the same basics as generalist physicians, the specialist has invested additional years into specifically studying particular body parts or functions.

The benefit of having a specialist (sometimes called a sub specialist) involved in your medical care is the additional years of study and practice that the specialist brings to the consultation.

It’s not so different than the specialization practiced by bees in a study recently conducted by Jaime Pawelek, a distinguished UC Berkeley Researcher. That study concluded that bees can be separated into two categories of female pollen preferences, either specialists or generalists. Specialist bees tap into the pollen in a few or even just one plant species. Generalist bees, on the other hand, are less picky about the flowers they visit.

Diversified Radiology employs dozens of specialist radiologists in multiple fields including Breast Imaging Radiologists, Body Imaging Radiologists, Interventional Radiologists, Musculoskeletal Radiologists, Neuro Radiologists, Nuclear Medicine Radiologists, and Pediatric Radiologists. These experts read and interpret only the X-rays and imaging procedures for which they trained 100% of the time.  The benefit of having the various experts on board means that treating doctors are able to be more acutely accurate in their prescribed treatments.