News Room

Press Releases

Franklin & Seidelmann Expands into Critical Access Hospital Market

Provides 24 x 7 Teleradiology Service for Three New Clients

CLEVELAND, OH—February 4, 2009—Franklin & Seidelmann Subspecialty Radiology (F&S) has further broadened its market penetration into the hospital sector with the addition of three new Critical Access Hospitals to its client roster:

• Barnes-Kasson Hospital, Susquehanna, PA
• New Horizons Medical Center, Owenton, KY
• Syringa General Hospital, Grangeville, ID

The challenge for a Critical Access Hospital (CAH), according to F&S CEO Scott Seidelmann, is providing uninterrupted, high quality radiology access in an area where 24 x 7 coverage is not always available or where it's not economically feasible to staff on-site subspecialty radiology expertise.

"The value of teleradiology is that you don't have to pay a radiologist to be here in a rural community," explained Kyle Kellum, manager of imaging services at Syringa General Hospital. "It's almost as if our F&S teleradiologists are here in the building, since they're able to answer immediately any question that one of our medical staff members might have on a radiology report they provided."

CAH facilities typically do not have large radiology staffs, so the full range of F&S services—implementation, workflow analysis, licensing, credentialing, and billing support—are particularly important to this sector of the hospital market. CAH administrators typically seek out services such as those provided by F&S in order to increase medical staff satisfaction, improve patient care, and generate additional referrals and revenue for their radiology departments.

Kellum added that in addition to improving patient care with more comprehensive reporting, his hospital is enjoying a boost in revenue thanks to the new F&S relationship. "The reports come back detailed and always have recommendations for the physicians regarding steps that should be explored next for the best care of the patient, so physicians have been referring more of their patients to our radiology department," he explained. "Since beginning the F&S partnership, the hospital has doubled its MRI procedures; volumes across the board have shot up, with ultrasound up eight percent, CT up 21 percent and plain film up 11 percent, as examples."

Critical Access Hospitals, created initially as part of the Federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997, are rural health care facilities designed to improve access to health care services for those who live outside primary metropolitan areas. A CAH is typically a small institution with no more than 25 beds. It provides nearby residents with 24-hour emergency care services, outpatient care, and in-patient services that usually average 96 hours or less. "Teleradiology is an ideal solution for a CAH that needs to augment its radiology capabilities to provide coverage for nighttime, vacation or high-volume periods, or for access to the vast array of musculoskeletal, neuroradiology, body, cardiac, pediatric and other radiology subspecialists that simply aren't available or affordable to every rural hospital in the country," Seidelmann explained. "With our model, a patient in Idaho has access to the same top-tier radiology subspecialists that a patient in Manhattan, New York would have."

Founded in 2001, F&S provides hospitals of all sizes with 24 x 7 final reports through a comprehensive network of more than 100 subspecialty radiologists. Many hospitals are forced to compete for access to qualified radiologists in order to provide uninterrupted, high quality radiology services, leading many to supplement or outsource to teleradiology providers such as F&S.

About Franklin & Seidelmann Subspecialty Radiology (F&S)
Franklin & Seidelmann Subspecialty Radiology (F&S) is a leading, national full-service teleradiology provider offering high quality final subspecialty and nighttime/ED reports. F&S provides clinically specific, detailed reports and consultative services that enable clients to improve referring physician satisfaction and increase referrals and revenue while optimizing radiologist staffing costs. The F&S team of more than 100 radiologists, who combined are licensed in 50 states, includes: board certified, musculoskeletal, neuroradiology, body, cardiac, nighttime/ED and breast MR specialists with advanced modality training. F&S utilizes a sophisticated teleradiology platform to distribute images and reports. Founded in 2001 by pioneer subspecialty teleradiologists, F&S is located in Cleveland, OH, with more than 250 clients and 100 employees. Visit http://www.franklin-seidelmann.com or call 866-4FSRADS.

See other press releases.