The practice of teleradiology is not a novel concept. It has existed commercially for almost two decades. With the advent of technology and high-speed connectivity in the early 2000’s, teleradiology services became commercialized and companies started offering 24-hour coverage for interpreting diagnostic images – X-ray, CT, and MRI studies. By 2010, teleradiology became a multi-billion dollar industry with companies in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia offering image interpretation services across borders.
Although teleradiology has flourished in the developed world, the practice is still not widespread in developing parts of the world. Countries in Africa and Middle East still struggle with shortages in radiologists and radiology subspecialists.
A number of key challenges have historically impeded the advancement of teleradiology in the developing world:
- Infrastructure and Technology – many parts of Africa and the Middle East lack proper and stable infrastructure (high-speed connectivity, power, digital medical equipment) to implement reliable teleradiology solutions.
- Financial – there is a high variance between what radiologists earn in developing countries versus their counterparts in developed countries. In Ethiopia a radiologist working two jobs (public and private sectors) earns less than $3000 per month, whereas in the US it’s 10x that figure. This creates a per unit pricing disparity between what medical institutions in the developing countries are willing to pay and what the RSP’s and radiologists in the developed world want to earn. Even in countries like the UAE, in most cases, it’s always cheaper for a medical center to hire a radiologist as opposed to outsourcing a profitable imaging unit.
- Regulatory – most countries in the Middle East and Africa do not have developed laws and regulations to practice digital health or telemedicine. Some countries have taken initiatives in establishing new regulations and guidelines, but the new laws are unfortunately still murky. There still exists confusion related to medical licensing, physician responsibility, and medical malpractice issues.
At Ver2 we noticed that, due of the fragmented nature of the region and market, customers had diverging needs and were willing to pay for services based on differentiated service level agreements (SLA). For example, some clients were willing to pay a 20% premium to receive an image interpretation (final report) within a guaranteed one-hour period.
We took into account these challenges and proceeded with the customization and development of a teleradiology solution to address market needs. We offered clients a stable and advanced teleradiology platform that would operate effectively in low bandwidth environments via wired and/or wireless connectivity. Additionally, we partnered with multiple RSP’s to provide multi-tiered/differentiated services at varying prices depending on client SLA requirements: radiologist’s board certification, reporting radiologist’s location, type of study, turnaround time, coverage times, etc.
A year after launch of teleradiology services, Ver2 was serving paying medical centers in the UAE (Dubai, Al-Ain, Ajman, and Abu Dhabi), Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. In most cases we helped clients solve three problems:
- Access to 700+ generalist and subspecialist radiologists globally and image interpretation coverage 24/7/365.
- Differentiated offering which allows clients to choose from a menu of services matching their service needs and price requirements.
- Workforce optimization by enabling clients to share their organization’s resources (radiologists) across borders, or fall back on Ver2 services when they require additional capacity.