Evaluation of the benefits for the patient arising from an inter-hospital teleradiology network in a French administrative area.

We conducted a prospective study of the teleradiology network which connects 15 hospitals in the Aquitaine area. All transmissions sent over a one-year period were examined (data transmitted at the time of the remote consultation and health outcomes of patients from their medical records). For emergency cases, the main outcome measure of effectiveness was the proportion of avoided transfers. For non-emergency cases, the main outcome measure of effectiveness was the proportion of transfers, hospitalizations and consultations avoided. There were 737 transmissions, of which 664 (90%) met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 562 (85%) were for emergency care and 102 (15%) for non-emergency care. In emergency care, the pathologies most often associated with a remote consultation were cerebral pathologies (88%) and traumatic spinal pathologies (8%); the proportion of avoided transfers was 48%. In non-emergency care, the specialties most often concerned with remote consultations were neurology/neurosurgery (36%), cardiology and pulmonary diseases (17%) and gastroenterology (14%). Transfer was avoided for 37% of the patients and hospitalization for 12%. An additional consultation occurred after remote consultation for 2% of the patients. The results confirm the effectiveness of an inter-hospital teleradiology network.