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The ROI of Remote Consultations

Remote second opinions can be a gateway to proving the value of digital pathology

The ROI of Remote Consultations in Digital Pathology

Digital pathology has reached an important inflection point. Adoption is rising, evidence of clinical and operational value is strong, and digitization is widely accepted as the future of pathology. Yet as Imogen Fitt of Signify Research pointed out in her recent analysis of the market, near-term adoption remains uneven. For many institutions, digital pathology still feels like something to plan for tomorrow rather than act on today.

The reasons are well understood. High upfront costs, complex and lengthy implementations, interoperability challenges and heavy administrative overhead all combine to slow decision-making. Even organisations that are philosophically aligned with digital pathology often struggle to justify investment when budgets are under pressure from other enterprise-scale initiatives such as LIS replacements, oncology platforms or radiology IT refreshes. The result is a persistent gap between recognised long-term value and near-term return on investment.

What many organizations are seeking is not another abstract promise about future AI or biomarker discovery, but a way to realise tangible benefits quickly, in a form that aligns with their specific clinical and operational realities. This is where a more targeted, use-case-driven approach to digital pathology can make a meaningful difference.

Thinking outside the building

For institutions with significant subspecialty expertise, remote second opinion services represent one of the most compelling and immediately actionable applications of digital pathology. They address real clinical needs today: managing rising case complexity, improving access to scarce expertise (just locally but even globally), supporting workforce sustainability and generating new, scalable revenue streams. PathPresenter’s ConsultConnect was designed specifically to unlock this opportunity while removing many of the barriers that slow broader digital pathology adoption.

ConsultConnect is a secure, “zero-footprint” cloud-based platform built to enable remote pathology consultation at scale, allowing consulting institutions with specialty expertise to take referral cases from remote organizations with ease. Rather than requiring a full digital pathology rollout, it allows organisations to start with a focused, high-value workflow that delivers rapid impact. This fundamentally changes the cost–value equation.

First, ConsultConnect eliminates the issue of high upfront costs. There is no capital expenditure on IT infrastructure and partners such as Grundium can provide pathways to cost-efficient slide scanners optimized for rapid deployment. Instead of large initial outlay and a long procurement cycle, the ConsultConnect model is based on a minimal annual commitment with simple, transparent “per-consult” pricing. This makes financial planning easier and aligns cost directly with value generated.

Second, it removes the burden of complex implementations. Traditional DP projects can take months or years to move from approval to production, often involving shared IT infrastructure, local software installation and extensive validation. ConsultConnect deploys in days, not months. Because it is “zero-footprint” cloud-native and requires no shared infrastructure between organisations, it avoids many of the technical bottlenecks that stall progress.

Interoperability is another major friction point in digital pathology adoption, particularly as laboratories seek to simplify fragmented IT environments. ConsultConnect removes this barrier by accepting images from virtually any whole slide scanner or file format. Institutions do not need to standardise on a single vendor or invest in expensive integration work to participate, making it an ideal solution in heterogeneous or transitional environments.

Administrative hurdles will always vary by organization, but ConsultConnect significantly reduces their impact by minimising IT, funding, and operational complexity. Importantly, it also offers something many DP initiatives lack: a fast, credible path to revenue generation. By enabling institutions to scale remote second opinion services securely and efficiently, the platform turns digital pathology from a cost centre into a potential revenue driver.

The result is a low-risk, high-impact entry point into digital pathology. Institutions can support referring pathologists, extend the reach of their subspecialty expertise, and deliver measurable ROI in the near term, without waiting for large-scale transformation programs to clear internal hurdles.

From “Why Now?” to “Yes, Now”

In a market where “why now?” remains one of the hardest questions to answer, ConsultConnect provides a practical response. It demonstrates that digital pathology does not have to mean extra work, excessive risk or deferred value. Instead, it can be a rational, incremental step that delivers tangible benefits today while laying the foundation for broader digital adoption tomorrow.

Does your institution have expertise to share, ambitions to scale, and aspirations for digital transformation? ConsultConnect could be right for you. We’d love to discuss your needs.

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