Dallas Business Journal’s Bill Hethcock spoke with Collaborative Imaging’s CEO, Dhruv Chopra about Ci’s telehealth capacity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing more than 100 of radiologists to work at home instead of inside hospitals and other facilities where they would be at a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus.
Radiologists are playing a key role in the identification and diagnosis of COVID-19, Dhruv Chopra, CEO of Collaborative Imaging, said in an interview with the Dallas Business Journal.
Collaborative Imaging is a physician-owned alliance of about 500 radiologists that works with most hospitals in Dallas-Fort Worth.
When COVID-19 started unfolding in China, the collaborative started putting plans in place to protect its physicians, Chopra said.
“When the COVID virus started coming out, we realized very quickly that No. 1, we have to make sure that we are delivering the best patient care, but No. 2, we have to make sure that we are protecting our physicians,” Chopra said. “If the physicians go down, we do not have any patient care to deliver.”
Through teleradiology, the radiologists can continue to provide interpretations and communicate with referring physicians just as they would by being in the hospital, but without the contact, Chopra said.