Staff burnout is a reality in radiology departments nationwide as most teams are being asked to scan more cases faster. Outsourcing your center’s post-processing work would remove some of that burden, allowing your staff to focus their time and energy on patient care, and acquiring the best images, their core revenue-producing activities
Outsourcing your post-processing work is both fiscally responsible and practical. It saves the cost of building an in-house lab and allows you to reallocate the requisite office space for another purpose.
Consider that only about 15% of radiology cases are post processed. If you outsource your post-processing work, you can use that time to conduct additional MRI or CT scans, which reimburse at a higher level. Furthermore, outsourcing to 3DR Labs can save an average of $50-$120 per scan on 3D post-processing expenses. That represents a significant margin for a hospital on an annual basis
Outsourcing this portion of your workload mitigates risk. Your post-processing provider will make the necessary capital purchases, perform the equipment maintenance and upgrades, and hire and train the staff. 3DR Labs minimizes the risk by limiting the number of external data points that a hospital maintains.
By outsourcing post-processing cases, you can gain access to advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology without the capital outlay or cost of additional software. 3DR Labs partners with industry-leading AI radiology software companies. One example—we use icometrix’s icobrain products to conduct quantitative analyses of cerebral MRI and CT scans and detect and monitor diseases such as multiple sclerosis, dementia, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injuries. The American Medical Association granted icometrix the first Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code for quantitative brain MRI analyses last year. Therefore, hospitals and imaging centers can now use that CPT code to claim reimbursement for those analyses from Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial health plans. In November 2024, the FDA granted icometrix clearance for icobrain aria, the only AI software approved to detect, measure, and grade amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), a potentially harmful side effect of new amyloid-targeting therapies for people with Alzheimer’s disease.
An external post-processing provider will have specialized expertise gleaned from reviewing large volumes of studies. This is especially important with rare disease cases, which staff at small institutions might not have seen before. 3DR Labs is the largest provider of 3D post-processing of CT and MRI scans in the United States. We have more than 1,000 customers, ranging from imaging centers and acute care centers to academic health systems, and we process more than 50,000 cases per month. We evaluate each case against up to 400 quality metrics to ensure that we provide excellent results. Furthermore, we launched a specialized Cardiac Center of Excellence two years ago. Our staff processed more than 11,000 transcatheter aortic valve replacement cases and 28,000 coronary CT angiography cases in 2023 and those numbers grew by about 45% in 2024.
Outsourcing also allows you to gain access to the necessary technology and staff expertise without having to train for 3D post-processing around the clock. 3DR Labs has more than 200 ARRT®-certified radiologic technologists (RTs)* operating advanced TeraRecon, Visage Imaging, Vitrea through Canon Medical, Circle Cardiovascular Imaging, and Medis Medical Imaging technology. We also offer fee-per-case pricing with no monthly minimums. As a result, you can tap into our expertise during busy times, to cover nights, weekends or holidays, or to process more difficult exams. We can seamlessly expand your current processing capacity and function as your ‘lab down the hall.’
*3DR is an independent organization and is not authorized by, sponsored by, or affiliated with The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists, which is the owner of the trademark ARRT.
