Changes to Radiology Walk-in Services at Burnet Campus
Beginning October 4, walk-in X-ray services at Burnet Campus (Location B1) will be limited to the hours of 6am-9pm M-F, 6:30am-3pm Saturday and 10am-2pm Sunday.
Radiology and Medical Imaging at Cincinnati Children’s Burnet Campus will be gaining new space within the Emergency Department when the new Critical Care Building (CCB) opens on November 6th. Embedding imaging services within the Emergency Department (ED) will assist in providing services for emergency and critical care inpatients.
With this new space, all after-hours imaging will take place in the CCB imaging department and will primarily serve emergency and critical care patients. Today, outpatients arriving after-hours for walk-in imaging services are imaged in the Location B1 Radiology Department. Since the new imaging space will be physically located in the ED, the current process cannot be maintained. Federal law requires that all patients presenting to an ED must receive a screening exam appropriate for their symptoms. Complying with this law will require that most walk-in patients who arrive in the ED after-hours will receive an evaluation by a physician prior to imaging, resulting in an additional urgent care or emergency evaluation charge.
To prepare for these changes, the Location B1 Radiology Department will be extending outpatient hours to accommodate many of these after-hours walk-in X-ray patients. Patients can be registered for outpatient imaging in the Location B1 Radiology Waiting Room from 6am-9pm Monday-Friday, 6:30am-3pm Saturday and 10am-2pm Sunday for routine imaging services.
The impact of these changes should be minimal. The outpatient walk-in volume outside of these hours is relatively low – approximately 250 X-ray patients during the last 12 months – and our hope is that proactive communication will help minimize any negative impact.
Patients needing walk-in X-ray services can also be seen at any of our neighborhood locations during these hours:
Liberty: Mon-Fri 6am-9pm, Sat-Sun 7:30am-4pm, Anderson: Mon-Fri 8am-9pm, Sat 8am-4pm, Sun 12pm-4pm, Eastgate: Mon-Fri 8:30am-5pm, Fairfield: Mon-Fri 9am-5:30pm, Green Township: Mon-Fri 7:30am-9pm, Sat 8am-4pm, Sun 12pm-4pm, Kenwood: Mon-Fri 8:30am-5pm, Mason: Mon-Fri 7:30am-9pm, Sat 8am-4pm, Sun 12pm-4pm, Northern Kentucky: Mon-Fri 8am-6pm, Sat 8am-12pm
Frequently Asked Questions:
Why would my patient have to see an Emergency Department (ED) physician before getting an X-ray that I already ordered? 24/7 imaging was a great convenience for patients injured after office hours.
Radiology will have an embedded department in the ED once the new Critical Care Building opens on November 6th and will transition after-hours operations to this location to better serve emergency and critical care patients.
Federal law requires that all patients presenting to an ED must receive a screening exam appropriate for their symptoms, which would necessitate a physical exam for most patients prior to their outpatient imaging. Any patient who arrives after hours (after 9pm M-F, etc.) will, most likely, end up being seen by an ED physician.
Patients may choose to be seen by an Urgent Care or ED physician if they would like to proceed with imaging.
Is this going to cost my patients more money?
Yes, if a patient is evaluated by an ED physician prior to imaging they would be charged for an ED or Urgent Care visit. We want to avoid this when possible.
We are communicating this change now to help ensure that patients won’t be charged for an unnecessary ED visit.
Do a lot of patients come in the middle of the night to get X-rays that have been ordered by their PCP?
No, our historical data suggests very few patients come for X-rays ordered by their PCP after-hours (approximately 250 per year).
Extending hours of operation in the Location B1 Radiology Department will minimize the potential impact and accommodate over 60% of the patients that use the current after-hours process.
Walk me through what will happen with my patient who comes to Cincinnati Children’s Burnet Campus needing an X-ray at midnight for an injury that happened at home at 11pm? Consider that the patient has already contacted me and I’ve ordered an X-ray.
The only imaging services offered at this time will be in the embedded ED imaging department. Since this patient will be presenting to the ED, they must be evaluated by a physician first, and that physician will order any necessary imaging.
If the patient doesn’t need urgent care or emergency level services, it would be beneficial for your patient to wait until morning to get the X-ray in our Location B1 Radiology Department or a neighborhood location during open hours.