Facility Management

Freestanding imaging centers may escape rate scheduleThe freewheeling outpatient health-care segment is set to receivea healthy dose of economic discipline courtesy of Uncle Sam, whois threatening to rein in outpatient costs with a system

Physician owners seem to be awaiting better offersThere hasn'tbeen much fury in the storm of imaging center acquisitions forecastfor this year. Although referring-physician owners face federaland state deadlines to divest their ownership

Drug firm sees potential in Johnson & Johnson allianceMRI is becoming the Rodney Dangerfield of medical imaging. Manyfirms are scrambling to scale back investment in the technologyor are leaving the business altogether. The latest company

Imaging market decimated by reform awaits vendorMRI developerMagna-Lab is targeting a late fall release date for its Magna-SLniche scanner, which received Food and Drug Administration 510(k)clearance for extremity scanning this month. To find

Physicians are eager for latest technologyJust as most radiologists and other clinicians in developing marketsprefer the latest in scanner technology, they are also eager forthe safety and performance advantages of nonionic radiographiccontrast

PET may also get a boost from FDA certification of FDGThe soundyou hear may be gridlock breaking. Positron emission tomographypassed two regulatory milestones last month that could help breathelife into moribund sales of this high-end nuclear

Mallinckrodt to sell pioneering echo contrast agent After nearlyfour years of premarket approval (PMA) review, the Food and DrugAdministration this month certified the first ultrasound contrastagent for sale in the U.S. Echocardiography agent

Bone densitometry vendorHologic last week announced strong revenue and income growth forthe third quarter (end-June). The company's prospects have beenhelped by the Health Care Financing Administration's decisionto provide Medicare reimbursement for dual

Center firm builds teaching hospital alliancesWhile many radiologists anticipate increased competitive threatsfrom health-care changes under way in the U.S., subspecialty radiologycould benefit from greater imaging competition and managed

Executives at contrast supplierSquibb Diagnostics are looking into expanding their relationshipwith Bracco Industria Chimica SPA of Milan, Italy. One optionunder discussion is the sale of Squibb Diagnostics to Bracco. "We've been in discussions

Hybrid system fails to show results Shimadzu Medical Systems is finding the going tough in the U.S.MRI market. The vendor is scaling back its direct-sales MRI effortin favor of a distributor and dealer sales network. Shimadzu said last month

The NASDAQ stock exchange hasadded insult to injury to Medical Imaging Centers of America (MICA).The San Diego-based firm, already suffering from the high costof an expensive lease portfolio, announced last month that itsstock has been delisted from

This month's Society of Nuclear Medicine meetingin Orlando was proof positive that the recent slump in gamma camerapurchasing has not had a pronounced effect on technological innovation.Despite a plunge in orders that began late last year,

Chain targets $100 million revenue by 1996 Imaging center firm Diagnostic Health of Birmingham, AL, has founda unnamed financial partner willing to invest at least $30 millionin its effort to build a $100 million imaging services companyby 1996.

Imaging center firm ImageAmerica has changed its name to MedAlliance. The new name reflects the changesthat have occurred at the Nashville company since it embarkedon a strategy to acquire physician group practices as a meansof compensating for declines

Novel engineering of ECAT ART aims for cost-efficient operation The nuclear medicine group of Siemens Medical Systems hopes to take some ofthe pain out of purchasing a new PET camera by introducing a newsystem that will sell for under $1

ACP report highlights need for outcomes researchMRI suffered anothersetback last month in the form of a study published in the Annalsof Internal Medicine that claims there is a lack of quality researchsupporting the use of MRI in the brain and spine.

McNeil: Rapid studies are needed for new product introductionsManymedical imaging vendors have shied away from funding outcomesresearch studies, despite the growing importance of such researchin assessing imaging equipment. Some companies are

Meeting may have alienated regulators A Congressional briefing held this month gave PET advocates achance to blow off steam accumulated while waiting years for Medicarereimbursement of the technology. The meeting provided PET proponentswith a

Imaging center chain National ImagingAffiliates (NIA) reported last month that it has merged with HeritageImaging (HIC). The combined chain carries the NIA name and hasa total of six imaging centers. NIA will maintain corporate headquartersin Nashville.

Strong sales of Sophycamera DST lead the chargeBy any measure, 1993 was a turbulent year for gamma camera manufacturerSopha Medical. The Buc, France, vendor paid competitor Elscint$7.75 million to settle a patent interference suit, was forcedto

Former PACS company president turns attention to telemedicineCombining teleradiology and videoconferencing applications onone hardware system has long been a dream of telemedicine advocates.That dream is a bit closer to reality since a Florida

Public pressure mounts to control modalityAn MRI site accreditation program under development by the AmericanCollege of Radiology could be in place as early as the end ofthis year, according to Dr. William G. Bradley Jr., chairman ofthe ACR's

Contemplating an underequipped national health-care network of62,000 hospitals and 200,000 clinics is sure to whet the appetitesof most medical imaging marketers. Toss in a roaring economy growingat double-digit annual rates and people get excited about

Imaging center firm Health Images of Atlanta has combined a nationalmanaged-care orientation with local, individualized center plansin an effort to boost income, according to W.A. Wilson, presidentand CEO. HI will hold off expansion of its large center

Signal Stream Technologies of Novato, CA, finalized its firstOEM supply contract with GE Medical Systems last month, providingadditional momentum to an already rapid business launch. The medicalimaging interface and image management company was started

For the past year proponents of PET have been facing the unsettlingprospect of a reformed health-care system without room for mega-tickettechnologies like PET. PET developer Positron, however, has notlet uncertainty over PET's prospects interfere with

HCFA's recommendation to grant Medicare reimbursementfor dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) exams for osteoporosishas led to an increase in Lunar's annual revenues, according tothe company. The firm reported a 4% increase in revenues for the

The recession in mobile imaging services last year created a trickle-downeffect for suppliers of component equipment, particularly mobilevans, according to one supplier. Lower MRI reimbursement rates made it harder for hospitalsto justify mobile

U.S. reimbursement prospects for bone densitometry are improving,with a growing list of state Medicare and Medicaid payors supportingthe procedure, according to David Ellenbogen, president of densitometervendor Hologic of Waltham MA. But the worldwide