The innovative bundling of teleradiology, telepathology, and teleoncology services

R. S. Weinstein A. M. López G. P. Barker E. A. Krupinski M. R. Descour K. M. Scott L. C. Richter S. J. Beinar M. J. Holcomb P. H. Bartels R. A. McNeely A. K. Bhattacharyya Teleradiology, telepathology, and teleoncology are important applications of telemedicine. Recent advances in these fields include a preponderance of radiology PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) users, the implementation of aroundthe-clock teleradiology services at many hospitals, and the invention of the first ultrarapid whole-slide digital scanner based on the array microscope. These advances have led to the development of a new health-care-delivery clinical pathway called the ultrarapid breast care process (URBC), which has been commercialized as the UltraClinicst process. This process bundles telemammography, telepathology, and teleoncology services and has reduced the time it takes for a woman to obtain diagnostic and therapeutic breast-care planning services from several weeks to a single day. This paper describes the UltraClinics process in detail and presents the vision of a network of same-day telemedicine-enabled UltraClinics facilities, staffed by a virtual group practice of teleradiologists, telepathologists, and teleoncologists.