Strategic Radiology (SR) has finalized an agreement with Intelerad, Montreal Canada, to provide the components of a virtual reading platform—PACS, worklist, voice recognition—to members at volume discounts negotiated on behalf of the coalition’s independent practice member groups. The agreement unlocks potential savings for every member regardless of their size and technical configurations through leverage of SR’s collective scale.

“We are delighted to be able to offer Intelerad’s first-class radiology reading platform at significant savings for our member groups,” said Randal Roat, FRBMA, SR chief operating officer. “By offering a solution that leverages SR members’ collective scale, SR members will be able to operate at a cost structure equivalent to the larger corporate practices in their respective geographies.”

Intelerad was well known to SR members. Many  SR member groups are currently in discussions with Intelerad or currently work with  the Canadian imaging IT provider, so it emerged as a likely candidate to provide an enterprise-wide solution. “Strategic Radiology has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to excellence and technology innovation in order to provide patient-centered care,” said Christian Bazinet, Intelerad’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We are thrilled that the search for a premium enterprise imaging platform has led Strategic Radiology to Intelerad.”

Diverse Needs of All Members

According to Carlos Lugos, SR director of clinical operations, SR was challenged to offer a solution that would meet the needs of a diverse membership. “There was a need to find a solution for our smaller group members that don’t have IT infrastructure, that don’t have the buying power due to lower volumes, and don’t have PACS administration,” he said. “We wanted to come up with a solution that can provide some or all of that, so we developed two offerings.”

·      Hosted Solution. For smaller groups that don’t want to buy their own server, SR will provide a hosted offering from Intelerad within its Radius cloud and that will house the Intelerad suite of products: Clario SmartWorklist, InteleOne, IntelePacs, and voice recognition. All groups regardless of volume would immediately benefit from negotiated discounts that will increase when various collective volume thresholds are met. PACS administration and overnight air-traffic control will be provided by SR.

·      Group Purchasing Discount (GPD). For larger groups that have their own infrastructure or relationships with hospitals that can be leveraged to stand up their own environment, negotiated discounts are available on the Intelerad suite of products (InteleOne, IntelePACS, Clario SmartWorklist, voice recognition) once collective volumes that flow through both the hosted solution and the GPD hit a negotiated threshold.

Mr. Roat sees the centralized hosted PACS-RIS as an exciting opportunity for SR’s smaller members and a prime example of leveraging scale and shared resources to drive benefit for all members. “Smaller groups , with one or two hospitals to cover, find it difficult to justify the technology and human costs associated with an internal RIS/PACS solution. We are taking something that is out of reach for some members and making it a practical reality.”

Likewise, in pooling their imaging volumes, larger groups work together to drive their single-study costs lower as they meet successive volume thresholds set for the various Intelerad offerings. “Even existing Intelerad customers will benefit from the agreement,” said Mr. Lugo.  “At their renewal time, and when we have met our negotiated threshold, existing customers can tap into the discount."