Cisco Powers vRad Live Video Diagnostics Solution Site to Eliminate Geographic Boundaries for Breast
Imaging, Improve Patient Care with Face-to-Face Collaboration
Medical Center Hospital in Texas Complements Women’s Health Services with Full Roster of On-Demand Breast
Imaging Specialists Through Video Technology
vRad (Virtual Radiologic), a MEDNAX company (NYSE:MD) and the leading national teleradiology services and telemedicine company,
announced that it has implemented its first breast imaging Live Video Diagnostics solution site at the Center for Women’s Imaging
at Medical Center Hospital (MCH) using Cisco® technology.
MCH is a 402-bed regional medical center providing advanced medical services to over 100,000 patients in Odessa, Texas, and the
surrounding 17 counties. The solution, highlighted in this Cisco case study video, improves MCH’s mammography coverage and workflow by connecting
vRad’s fellowship-trained breast imaging physicians with MCH technologists and patients, helping them to communicate in real time,
which leads to faster, personalized and compassionate care when MCH’s onsite breast imaging physicians are unavailable.
Breast imaging patients often experience much tension and anxiety; MCH’s goal is to provide more women with imaging results,
quality care and peace of mind as quickly as possible. On designated workdays, vRad’s fellowship-trained, board-certified breast
imaging teleradiologists are available at video-enhanced workstations powered by Cisco technology to consult directly with MCH
mammography technologists in order to collaborate and review images and radiologist annotations in real time. Consequently, more
patients have a better overall experience with higher specialist availability, shorter appointments, minimal wait times for
results, and fewer callbacks for additional screening.
“Having technologists and patients speaking face-to-face with a radiologist is priceless,” said Carol Evans, RT (R), Divisional
Director of Radiology at Medical Center Hospital. “Since we implemented the Live Video Diagnostics program, we have, on average,
decreased the duration of patient appointments from about 90 minutes to 30-45 minutes. The new solution site allows us to provide
results almost immediately — we either release the patients or, if there is an issue, we send the results to their physician within
hours, not days. This significantly improves the overall experience, care and satisfaction for our patients. The additional
on-demand coverage to complement our onsite clinicians, as well as the time savings also have allowed us to make more time
available to schedule additional patients, which is a great benefit to the women of our community and our hospital.”
The vRad solution site includes Cisco TelePresence® technology and end-to-end Cisco network architecture, which prioritizes and
carries video traffic with great accuracy in HD formats. This helps enable real-time:
- Video conferencing between vRad’s fellowship-trained breast imaging specialists, technologists and
patients;
- Sharing of complex mammography images; and
- Annotating images to articulate and communicate problem areas or findings.
“We see great opportunity in our collaboration with vRad and already have commitment to expand Live Video Diagnostics
capabilities to additional hospital sites in California and Virginia. We also are working to expand the solution into additional
specialties to change how healthcare is delivered,” said Barbara Casey, Global Healthcare and Life Sciences Director at Cisco.
“There’s never been a better time for this type of clinical and technical collaboration. The sooner patients know their diagnosis,
the better off they are.”
“Cisco is providing an innovative platform that increases operational efficiency and helps ensure efficient storage for
high-resolution patient imaging, including mammograms,” said Shannon Werb, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Information Officer at
vRad. “By using video for real-time personalized interaction, the platform provides speedy diagnoses by connecting remote specialty
experts that hospitals may not have available in-house when patient care is required. This approach expands clinical coverage with
a human touch, making a real difference for patients who want to find out accurate results as quickly as possible.”
Click to tweet: @vRad+@Cisco reduce patint anxity w/secure live video #imaging Dx at @MCHOdessa
#breastcancerawareness #neverbetter www.cisco.com/go/vrad
About Medical Center Hospital
Medical Center Hospital (MCH) is a 402-bed regional medical center that provides a broad range of advanced medical services to
over 100,000 patients in Odessa, Texas, and the surrounding 17 counties. It is a Level ll trauma center and the only stroke program
in the Permian Basin that received the Certificate of Distinction for Primary Stroke Centers from The Joint Commission. MCH is also
designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology.
About vRad
vRad (Virtual Radiologic) is the leading national teleradiology services and telemedicine company with nearly 500 U.S.
board-certified and eligible physicians, 75% of whom are subspecialty trained. Its clinical expertise and evidence-based insight
help clients make decisions about the health of their patients and their imaging services.
vRad is a MEDNAX company, a national health solutions partner specializing in neonatal and other pediatric services, anesthesia,
radiology, pediatric cardiology and other physician and management services. vRad interprets and processes patient imaging studies
on the world’s largest and most advanced teleradiology PACS for 2,100+ client hospital, health system and radiology group
facilities in all 50 states. The practice has 15 issued patents for innovation in telemedicine workflow, and is a recognized leader
in imaging analytics and deep learning-assisted diagnostics. It is also a past winner of Frost & Sullivan’s Visionary
Innovation Award for Medical Imaging Analytics (North America). For more information, please visit www.vrad.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Certain statements and information in this press release may be deemed to contain forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements
relating to vRad’s objectives, plans and strategies, and all statements, other than statements of historical facts, that address
activities, events or developments that vRad intends, expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future.
These statements are often characterized by terminology such as “believe”, “hope”, “may”, “anticipate”, “should”, “intend”, “plan”,
“will”, “expect”, “estimate”, “project”, “positioned”, “strategy” and similar expressions, and are based on assumptions and
assessments made by vRad’s management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current conditions,
expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. Any forward-looking statements in this press release
are made as of the date hereof, and neither vRad nor MEDNAX undertakes a duty to update or revise any such statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are
subject to risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results, developments, and business decisions to
differ materially from forward-looking statements are described in MEDNAX’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and its
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, including the sections entitled “Risk Factors”, as well MEDNAX’s current reports on Form 8-K, filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
For vRad
Robert Minicucci, 339-206-1722
rminicucci@ramhealthcomms.com
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