by
Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | March 03, 2011
A 15 radiologist practice in central Illinois has hitched its fortunes to Virtual Radiologic.
The national imaging and teleradiology provider, which contracts with more than 325 radiologists, said Wednesday Lakeland Radiologists, Ltd. of Charleston, Ill. had merged with an affiliated medical practice. The new entity will be called Lakeland Radiology Alliance, and will serve the Champaign-Urbana region, Eden Prairie, Minn.-based vRad said.
"As we looked at growth of our practice and the changing landscape of the health care industry, we had to find more efficient ways to meet the increasing demands for our services," Dr. Aldo Ruffolo, Lakeland's medical director, said in a statement.
The group initially approached vRad to use image management and sharing software, the companies said.
This is one of a number of partnerships and acquisitions vRad has announced in the past year. In August, New York Radiology Alliance, a 60-radiologist practice joined vRad. And in September, vRad announced it would buy teleradiology rival NightHawk Radiology in a $170 million deal. They
completed the merger at the end of December.
