Medical technology firm may come to Hawai'i

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

A Minneapolis "teleradiology" company, whose radiologists use high-speed Internet access to analyze emergency room CT scans for more than 240 hospitals, hopes to set up a center somewhere on O'ahu, Maui or the Big Island later this year.

Virtual Radiologic Consultants expects to take advantage of Hawai'i's time zone to offer fresh eyes for late-night calls from Mainland emergency rooms, where radiologists are in short supply.

Hawai'i also appears desirable because Medicare and the American College of Radiology both recommend that Computed Tomography Imaging and other reports be read by radiologists living in the United States, said Lorna Lusic, Virtual Radiologic's chief operating officer.

"The farthest time zone West and still be on U.S. soil would be Hawai'i," Lusic said. "Hawai'i is the perfect place."

Virtual Radiologic uses U.S. board-certified doctors who have credentials to work for specific hospitals. They work seven nights in a row and then get seven days off, for a total of 26 weeks of work, Lusic said.

The company's 35 doctors are spread across the United States, and Lusic expects several of them to work for their credentialed hospitals while in Hawai'i — and at the same time bring their families on Hawai'i vacations, Lusic said.

Virtual Radiologic plans to hire 10 to 20 radiologists for its Hawai'i center.

Gary Weiss, who has worked for Virtual Radiologic for the past two years from his office in Lahaina, Maui, doesn't believe the company will have difficulty attracting radiologists to Hawai'i.

"It'll be extremely easy," Weiss said. "We have many more applicants than we have positions for."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.