As a patient that has been referred for a diagnostic imaging examination, there are some very important decisions that are not always apparent. There are two distinct yet highly related and important phases to your procedure. The first is the facility where the procedure will be performed. Usually your referring physician’s office can help you narrow down a facility that is both reputable, convenient, and participates with your insurance plan.
What to Look for in a Diagnostic Facility
Reputable facilities will keep their diagnostic equipment well maintained and strive to hire technologists (the people who operate the MRI, CT, ultrasound, etc.) who are at the top of their field. After you visit the facility and the technologist acquires your images, the second phase begins.
The images are evaluated by a radiologist who will ultimately generate a report of any findings on the images and send that report to your referring physician. The end product is the radiologist report and both phases are equally important in order to provide you, the patient, with answers. If the equipment is inferior, it will provide poor images which can potentially make it more difficult for the radiologist to render a definitive diagnosis. On the other hand, excellent equipment alone does not guarantee an accurate diagnosis if the interpreting radiologist lacks experience with the particular anatomy in question.
We take patient care and comfort seriously
For over 70 years ARA has developed a practiced centered around the practice of subspecialized radiology and teaching. Why has this been a focus? In short, we believe that teaching keeps our physicians on the cutting edge and subspecializing gives our physicians depth of experience. This means that ARA will have both the experience and depth of knowledge to appropriately interpret your images.
If you are scheduled for a diagnostic imaging procedure be sure to ask the facility if they use ARA to interpret their images. Alternatively you can take the guesswork out of the equation by scheduling your next diagnostic imaging procedure at one of Touchstone Medical Imaging’s many DFW metroplex locations.
Want to learn more?
If you’re interested in ARA’s radiology services, partnership, or other resources, please contact us for further details.
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