Who to Contact About a RadsForVets Case: Clinical and Operations Questions

A question about what an imaging finding means is different from a question about the submission or report-delivery process. RadsForVets provides case-specific Real-Time Chat conversations so the clinic can address these questions to the relevant people. Knowing the distinction helps the practice describe the issue clearly without treating a clinical question as a purely administrative task.

The Operations Team is available 24/7/365. Clinical interpretation remains with the ACVR- or ECVDI-certified radiologist reading the case. The ACVR describes consultation with the referring veterinarian as part of the radiologist’s role. [1] The process below concerns where to direct a question, not a guarantee that every issue has a particular resolution time.

Identify the kind of question first

Begin by naming the issue: interpretation, clinical update, submission, or report delivery. If the concern is a statement in the report, identify that passage and ask what it means. If the concern is locating the report or understanding the submission process, explain that operational issue without presenting it as a request for a new clinical conclusion.

An issue can involve both clinical and operational information. Make the two questions distinguishable rather than relying on a single vague message. The practice can state what it needs to understand about the case process and separately what it needs to clarify about the interpretation.

Use the radiologist conversation for interpretation

Real-Time Chat includes a “Clinic and Radiologist” conversation. Use it for questions about findings, conclusions, limitations, or the purpose of recommendations. Quote the relevant statement when helpful and include the clinical context that makes the question important. The interpreting radiologist can discuss the interpretation; the treating veterinarian remains responsible for the patient’s clinical plan.

Ask for explanation rather than an unsupported change in certainty. If the images leave a question open, the discussion should preserve that boundary. Direct contact with the reader is a way to understand the report, not a promise that the submitted study can answer every diagnostic question.

Use the Operations Team conversation for process questions

The “Clinic and Ops Team” conversation addresses the Operations Team. Use it for submission and report-delivery questions. Identify the study and describe the specific process issue so the question is understandable. This article does not claim that the team automatically creates tasks, monitors every clinic action, or performs clinical triage.

The third conversation is “Radiologists and Ops Team.” These are the platform’s tab names; in ordinary copy, the service team is the Operations Team. Their availability means the clinic has an operational contact around the clock, while clinical assessment and interpretation responsibilities remain distinct.

Make new information recognizable as an update

If the patient’s condition changes and the study has not yet been interpreted, use Real-Time Chat to alert the Operations Team. Identify what changed and its timing. This is the approved route for drawing attention to new information before interpretation; it does not replace the treating veterinarian’s reassessment of the patient.

If the interpretation is already available, identify the new information and any question it raises for the reading radiologist. Keep an update separate from the original history. Avoid implying that observations recorded after submission were necessarily part of the material initially reviewed.

Keep clinic responsibility visible

The practice should decide who locally will track the question and review the answer. This is a suggested clinic process, not a claim of automatic assignment in RADical. The person responsible for communication need not be the person making clinical decisions; the record should show when the treating veterinarian’s assessment is needed.

When a colleague takes over, identify the question, the source report, any response, and what remains open. Preserve the conversation rather than relying only on a remembered explanation. A process question being answered does not prove that patient follow-up has been completed.

Distinguish a resolved conversation from a resolved case

Real-Time Chat includes a Resolved status. That is a conversation status, not a diagnosis or evidence that the animal’s condition has resolved. Review any outstanding clinical responsibility through the practice’s own process, even when the administrative discussion has concluded.

The practical value of routing questions deliberately is clarity about who is being asked and what answer is needed. The Operations Team addresses process questions, the radiologist addresses interpretation, and the clinic owns patient care decisions. Keep those roles visible in both the message and the resulting record.

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