About Us

          Over 50 years ago, two young doctors started a small private radiology practice to cover Fairmont General Hospital, located in Fairmont, West Virginia.  In October 1968, John Coyner, M.D. and John Turner, M.D. were the initial founding fathers of Radiological Consultants Association.  One year later, Mack I. McClain, M.D. was hired with a corporate philosophy that was very simple; work hard and provide quality professional services but play hard and enjoy life.  While much has changed in the healthcare arena, quality service to their clients and an enjoyable work environment remains the cornerstone of RPA.  The group has seen Ultrasound and Mammography begin in the early 60’s, CT in 1975, MRI in 1977, and PET imaging in the late 1980’s.

          To accommodate the expansion of the practice into multiple hospital locations in the late 1970’s, the practice plunged into its first generation of teleradiology equipment to provide night and weekend coverage for satellite operations.  In 1995, the practice again upgraded their teleradiology equipment and communication platform.  Quality service has remained the focus because referring clinicians expect radiology reports to be accurate and system to be continuously available and reliable.   In October 1997, there was a name change from Radiological Consultants Association (RCA) to Radiology Physician Associates (RPA).  In the spirit of progress and innovation, RPA again upgraded its teleradiology platform in 2001 with the installation of its own servers, direct DICOM interfaces with CT, Ultrasound, X-ray and MRI.

          In 2008, RPA saw the necessity to transform from an onsite-based technology to a cloud-based radiology platform, through AccelaRAD and Thin Air Data.   This allowed for collaborative coordination of care while providing users with both security and ease of use.  The adoption of this platform enhanced RPA’s ability to efficiently and effectively process more than 150,000 studies each year with the radiologists working from many different locations providing 24/7 coverage to hospitals in rural West Virginia. This allowed teleradiology services to rural hospitals, that were previously considered available only at larger institutions.

          In 2020, RPA completely overhauled their radiology platform by partnering with Intelerad Medical Services for their diagnostic viewer and PACS, Corepoint Integration Engine by Lyniate, and Radius for a Vendor Neutral Archive.  This integration allows the radiologists to compare patients’ studies, regardless of where the prior images were scanned, which elevates the level of care.  Advanced toolsets such as Blackford’s Smart Localizer tool allows the radiologists to better report disease progression over time and Intelerad’s Inteleviewer advanced visualization which allows the better detection of pulmonary nodules and pulmonary emboli.  The investment in Intelerad’s InteleConnect allows clinicians to access their patient’s reports and viewer imaging through any internet connected device with a modern web-browser.

         RPA has been an active community sponsor for many events and activities.  RPA has participated as a corporate sponsor for WV Public Radio, the United Way, Boy Scouts of America, Harrison County Student Achievement Awards, Medbrook Children’s Charity, and multiple hospital fundraising initiatives to advance healthcare for local residents.  RPA established the Ian Marshall, M.D. Radiology Resident Library at West Virginia University, School of Medicine in memory of Dr. Marshall who was an RPA radiologist.

          RPA continues to invest time and capital into a supercharged radiology platform with future integration with artificial intelligence to provide high caliber radiology care 24 hours a day.  RPA continues to push the limits of outstanding quality care for the residents of West Virginia.