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Idaho company helps doctors sleep at night. Nighthawk Radiology Holdings provides nighttime readings to hospitals.

When Dr. Bill Portner’s beeper would go off at night, the radiologist from southern Maine would stumble to his home computer to read the latest CT scan sent from Stephens Memorial Hospital’s emergency room.

The rural hospital has only 50 beds. But Portner could be awakened a half-dozen times each night to determine whether the scan from an accident victim showed a head injury, or whether a patient’s abdominal pain was caused by a ruptured appendix.

By 4 a.m., he often wondered if he was dreaming or awake. "That’s a dangerous thing," said Portner, who worried about diagnostic errors caused by sleep deprivation.

For the past six years, however, Portner has slept soundly. He now relies on Nighthawk Radiology Holdings http://www.nighthawkrad.net/ of Coeur d’Alene to provide nighttime readings for the hospital.

By Becky Kramer – The Spokesman-Review

Full Story: http://www.idahostatesman.com/business/story/150818.html

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For doctors, diagnosing gets a technological boost

"One of the things I try to model for my residents is that I’m trying to learn new things even though I’ve been doing this for a long time."

—Pediatrician Stephen Borowitz
By Erin Donaghue, USA TODAY

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-09-05-diagnosis-technology_N.htm

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