SecondOpinions.com, an accredited teleradiology and telemedicine solutions provider connects patients globally to top U.S. physicians in any specialty and sub-specialty. Michael Yuz MD, Founder and CEO of www.SecondOpinions.com now makes it possible to get a second opinion long distance.
SecondOpinions.com as part of USARAD.com, a subspecialty radiology and teleradiology company, is in business to deliver a web-based service to connect patients all over the world with top American board-certified physician experts in an affordable way.
When patients are looking for a second opinion from a radiologist, they can go to the web site where their images can be uploaded to the secure site. After these images arrive at SecondOpinion’s server, an order is generated and the images are sent to the appropriate radiologist for a diagnostic reading. Once the radiologist sees and interprets the images, the report is available immediately. The patient receives notification through a secure link to the report.
Dr. Yuz notes that almost every patient with their images on a disk can be read by SecondOpinion’s radiologist regardless of the PACS system that generates the images because the software used by the radiologists recognizes DICOM data.
When a patient wants a second opinion with a physician who is not a radiologist, it works a little differently. The patient needs to visit the site, enter a questionnaire, and then uploads their medical records, imaging studies, laboratory results, dermatology results, and more. Patients can then choose the times when they would like to speak with a physician. At that time, the patient is connected with the physician for a consult by phone, or video chat.
What the patient pays for the services can vary. For example, the interpretation of an MRI is more expensive than other exams. The price a patient pays also depends on the specialty of the physician. While patients can pay for individual consults by credit card, SecondOpinion has to ability to bill insurance companies. SecondOpinion also offers memberships for individuals, families, and companies.
All SecondOpinion physicians are board certified and most are fellowship trained. Dr. Yuz notes that for international patients, second opinions are considered technically not a practice of medicine. In fact, he reports that many countries allow American doctors without a formal license to practice as is the case in the Middle East.
In terms of geography, most of the traffic comes to SecondOpinion from the U.S and Canada which is a very important market for business. SecondOpinion caters to both English speaking and non-English speaking countries especially Russia. The company has partnered with several international distributors that have automatic translation services set up for patients who come to the website.
It was just announced that SecondOpinions.com is hitting the airwaves with a monthly radio show that is now broadcasting a monthly 30 minute radio show. The show is on at 8:30 am EST on WSBR 740 AM radio and simultaneously on WWNN 1470 AM in Boca Raton. The show is also audio-streamed on the internet and can be heard by going to www.wwnradio.com and clicking on “LISTEN LIVE”.
In the coming months, the Second Opinions Radio Show will air for 30 minutes once a month on Saturdays. The airing times will vary from month-to-month and the schedule will be available on the SecondOpinions.com website.