Resources
Teleradiology guides for facility teams.
Practical, source-backed guides for the people who scope, buy and implement teleradiology: operations leaders, radiology managers, IT teams and medical staff offices.
Guides
Evaluate · Featured guide How to choose a teleradiology provider Six areas to evaluate, the questions to ask, the evidence to request and a worksheet that compares up to three providers. Read the guide
- What should we ask a provider?
- What evidence should we request?
- What are the warning signs?
- Understand How teleradiology works One study from order to report, preliminary and final reads, and what stays onsite. How do images reach the radiologist? · What is a preliminary report?
- Scope How to scope teleradiology coverage Map demand by hour, find coverage gaps and understand what shapes price and start date. Which hours need coverage? · What affects the cost?
- Prepare What to prepare for onboarding An interactive checklist across scope, eligibility, connectivity, communication, agreements and validation. What will our team be asked for? · What should start first?
Glossary
The words that come up in every scope.
Short definitions for the terms that appear in proposals, agreements and integration plans.
20 of 20 terms.
- Accession number
- An identifier for a specific imaging order or examination. It ties images, the order and the report together, so numbering rules matter when several sites share one reading service.
- Addendum
- A dated addition to a signed report, used for new information, clarification or correction, with the original report preserved. Anyone who acted on the first version needs to hear about a significant change.
- AE title
- Application Entity title: the name a DICOM system uses to identify itself when it sends or receives images. Sender and receiver must agree on each other’s AE titles before studies can move.
- Business associate agreement
- Under HIPAA, a contract setting out the responsibilities of a covered entity and a business associate handling protected health information on its behalf. Whether one is required depends on the parties’ roles; provider-to-provider treatment disclosures are excluded from this requirement.
- Contrast supervision
- Physician supervision of contrast administration, governed by payer rules, state requirements and facility policy. It is arranged separately from remote interpretation.
- DBT (digital breast tomosynthesis)
- A mammography technique that acquires the breast as a series of thin images. Under MQSA, interpreting physicians need training specific to each mammographic modality they read, including DBT.
- DICOM
- Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine: the standard for medical image files and for the network services used to send, query and retrieve them.
- Final report
- The signed interpretation that becomes part of the patient’s medical record.
- HL7 and FHIR
- Health Level Seven standards for exchanging orders, patient details and results between clinical systems. HL7 version 2 messages are common in radiology; FHIR is the newer web-based standard.
- Lead interpreting physician
- Under MQSA, the physician a mammography facility designates as responsible for its quality assurance program. It is a facility role, agreed separately from remote reading.
- Modality worklist
- A DICOM service that sends scheduled examinations and patient details from the RIS to the scanner, so technologists are not retyping them.
- MQSA
- The Mammography Quality Standards Act. Under it, FDA sets quality standards for mammography facilities, equipment and personnel, including the physicians who interpret mammograms.
- Nonroutine communication
- Communication of a finding faster, or by a different route, than the routine report, for example a phone call about a finding that needs urgent action. It should be documented.
- PACS
- Picture archiving and communication system: the system that stores, displays and distributes medical images.
- Peer review
- Structured review of a sample of interpretations by another radiologist, used to give feedback, find patterns and improve the service.
- Preliminary report
- An initial interpretation issued to guide immediate care and followed by a final report. A difference between the two must be communicated to the treating team.
- Prior studies
- Earlier examinations of the same patient, used for comparison. Access to relevant priors often changes what a report can conclude.
- RIS
- Radiology information system: manages orders, scheduling, examination status and, often, report distribution.
- STAT
- The highest priority designation for an imaging study, from the Latin statim, “immediately”. Each facility defines which studies qualify and the expected response.
- Turnaround time
- The time between two defined events, such as images received and report signed. It only means something once the start and stop points are agreed.
References
Primary references
The standards, practice parameters and regulator pages behind these guides.
- ACR–AAPM–SIIM Technical Standard for Electronic Practice of Medical ImagingAmerican College of Radiology · Revised 2022
- ACR Practice Parameter for Communication of Diagnostic Imaging FindingsAmerican College of Radiology · Revised 2025
- ACR Practice Parameter for Radiologist Coverage of Imaging Performed in Hospital Emergency DepartmentsAmerican College of Radiology · Revised 2023
- Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) and MQSA ProgramU.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Important Information: Final Rule to Amend the Mammography Quality Standards ActU.S. Food and Drug Administration · Amendments effective September 10, 2024
- DICOM Standard, current editionMedical Imaging & Technology Alliance, a division of NEMA
- Scheduled Workflow integration profileIHE International
- List of Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Medical DevicesU.S. Food and Drug Administration
- When is a health care provider a business associate of another health care provider?U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Coverage planner
Bring your scope into focus.
Modalities, priorities, hours and systems on one page. The planner prepares a brief in your browser that you can download, copy or email to the contact you choose.