By Pat Hammert/Staff Writer

Parkview Hospital must immediately upgrade its teleradiology system or risk not having X-rays read.

Trustees last week authorized up to $15,000 for hardware and software to digitally transmit images to certified radiologists through the Internet. The move was made after the consulting radiologist told local physicians he would be taking a leave of absence.

“He will be out for about a year and unavailable,” trustee Margaret Mehle told trustees at last week’s meeting.

Mehle said X-ray films nowadays must be digitalized. The technology was introduced to Parkview more than a decade ago when the hospital, using a grant through OU Health Sciences Center, installed the necessary system. T-1 Internet lines are also in place.

“The technology is sitting back there doing nothing,” Mehle said.

The changes have been imminent, given the advancements in the industry, said trustee David DeLana, but taking the action now is “knee-jerk.”

“This technology has been in the marketplace for at least three years. We can’t let ourselves get into a situation like this. We’ve got to be pro-active,” he said.

He said the hospital has been put “in a position by the whims of one individual.”

But general radiologist Paul Massad warned the hospital in May 2005 that the radiological field was changing. Massad has been reading X-rays and conducting fluoroscopic imaging at the hospital for the past 34 years. Last year, Massad’s Edmond-based radiological group canceled its contract with Parkview that provided a radiologist on-site at the hospital to perform radiology studies.

At that time, trustees approved an arrangement with Radlinx, a tele-radiology service to read CT scans for the hospital and a short-term contract with Massad in which he would interpret X-rays and MRIs.

Parkview was to install the $15,000 teleradiology system to be used for X-rays, MRIs and mammograms to send to Massad. In tele-radiology, response turnaround is hours instead of days and the imaging is better, Mehle said.

But the upgrades at Parkview have not occurred.

“We know the technology is out there and for us not to step up to the plate — shame on us,” DeLana said.

A courier service has been used to deliver files to Massad in Edmond who reads them before the attending physician makes rounds the next day. That arrangement will end May 31.

A year ago, Massad told trustees he would be curtailing his practice since he is near retirement age and could not guarantee the arrangement could continue.

Also, general radiologists that do his type of work are not coming out of medical school. Rather, radiologists specialize in particular fields. Through teleradiology, the scans can be sent to specialized doctors anywhere for interpretation as long as they are licensed to practice in Oklahoma.