The Diagnostic Imaging facility management focus page provides information, videos, podcasts, and the latest news about workflow optimization, artificial intelligence, technology, radiology-radiologic technologist relationships, productivity, legislation, and reimbursement.
April 16th 2024
A new study shows that GPT-4 may offer comparable error detection rates to those of attendings and radiology residents in reviewing radiology reports, but researchers noted key caveats as well.
Equipment buyers judge products more strictly
July 28th 1993Prospects of radical health-care reform are leading radiologyequipment purchasers to place greater emphasis on cost-effective,reimbursable equipment and procedures. Vendors must cater to health-careproviders who are looking more than ever to make their
Capital access slows imaging center buyouts
July 28th 1993A mass exodus of physician investors from the U.S. imaging centerindustry has yet to materialize, despite the impending one-twopunch of health-care reform and self-referral restrictions. Marketsoftness in imaging services has put a damper on center
U.S. slump sends Enertech abroad
July 28th 1993Impending national health-care reform has led to a dramatic slowdownin the U.S. modular imaging facility market. With no recoveryexpected for 18 to 24 months, transportable facility vendor Enertechis looking abroad to make up for lost domestic business,
Mentor integrates Teknar ultrasound
July 14th 1993Two and a half years after purchasing Teknar, Santa Barbara, CA-basedMentor is bringing that firm's ultrasound product line fully intothe fold. Mentor is reorganizing operations, placing the Teknarscanners in the hands of its existing urology sales and
MRI image processing buffs low-field's image
July 14th 1993Pretty pictures do not necessarily make a better diagnosis, butthey can attract referral business in MRI. Image Enhancement Systems,a company that branched out of an MRI center operating Toshiba's0.064-tesla Access MRI system, has developed a hardware
Elscint stakes out PET position with Positron marketing agreement
June 30th 1993Elscint adds another card to its imaging hand with the formationthis month of a marketing and distribution agreement with positronemission tomography manufacturer Positron. The relationship givesElscint access to a PET camera without having to invest in
Ex-Concord executives propel DVI expansion
June 16th 1993You wouldn't know by glancing at DVI Health Services' third-quarterfinancial report that business is booming for the scanner lessorand imaging center holding company. DVI's revenue dropped from$8.4 million during the 1992 third quarter (end-March) to $5
MEDIQ seeks growth amid service consolidation
June 16th 1993While declining reimbursement in the U.S. has hit the shared MRIservice business hardest, shared service firms focusing on lowercost modalities are also susceptible to procedure price pressure.Consolidation may hit these industries as service economics
NRC license fee hikes squeeze nuclear medicine
June 2nd 1993A recent court decision has given the nuclear medicine communitya forum in which to challenge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission'scontroversial license fees for handling radioisotopes. Nuclearmedicine practitioners charge that NRC fees have skyrocketed
Imaging center firms prepare for coming service industry shakeout
June 2nd 1993Imaging service companies have a hard row to hoe staying aliveand profitable in a rapidly changing U.S. health care deliverysystem. But those center and mobile providers that are smart andquick enough to outlast the shakeout and build connections tothe
Acuson's ART feature clears signal as firm positions for market upturn
May 19th 1993Acuson and its founder/CEO Samuel H. Maslak are hitting the roadthis month to tout technology in a manner reminiscent of the ultrasoundvendor's initial launch of its high-end 128 scanner a decade ago.Similarities between 1983 and 1993 abound, not only in
Study refutes figures on MRI volume, profit
May 19th 1993A year after the General Accounting Office lambasted MRI centersfor overcharging Medicare for imaging scans, a new study commissionedby the Quality Imaging Association contradicts the GAO findings. In its 1992 report, the GAO charged that centers were
Shifts in MRI utilization and payment bode hard times for service providers
May 5th 1993You know a business situation is dim when the bright side is thata good chunk of your competition may close shop before you do.That about sums up the state of the outpatient imaging servicesmarket. And wither goes imaging services, so go the
GAO self-referral study backs move for total ban
May 5th 1993The General Accounting Office released a study last month disclosingthat Florida physicians with imaging center investment interestsordered far more medical imaging tests than doctors who did notself-refer. The GAO's findings have already provided
Low-priced MR sells well into private practices
May 5th 1993Demand for new MRI systems continues in the private-practice/outpatient-centermarket, although buyers faced with declining reimbursement arepressing for lower equipment prices. Otsuka Electronics will shipseven of its OE 1.5 SI MRI systems this spring,
Scan brokering foes battle in California
May 5th 1993Opponents of a form of imaging center networking known as scanbrokering are waging a battle against the practice in California.A bill that would ban scan brokering is undergoing hearings inthe state Legislature. Assembly bill 1898 was sponsored by the
Diagnostic Health builds center chain privately
May 5th 1993Diagnostic Health has switched tracks in its imaging-center acquisitiondrive but is still rolling towards the goal of building a 30-centerchain over the next two to three years. With stock markets spookedby the uncertainty of impending health-care
Successful IPO adds thrust to niche-MRI effort
May 5th 1993Play the flip side of the health-care, cost-containment bluesand you will hear some well-placed companies singing market rhapsodies.Wall Street whistled to the tune of $6 million in support of niche-MRIdeveloper Magna-Lab last month, despite the
TME plans for managed care world
April 21st 1993Imaging center chains must control what they pay for center acquisitionsif they hope to compete in a managed-care-driven U.S. health-caresystem. Many center partnerships continue to request prices thatare too high, considering how cost-driven the imaging
Precertification rules could give MR the blues
April 21st 1993In what could be a harbinger of the future of health-care reform,a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan in New York has begun requiringprecertification for MRI scans. Precertification is not new to managed care plans such as healthmaintenance organizations. But
MR Cooperative focuses center purchasing power
April 21st 1993The MR Cooperative hopes strength in numbers will help its membersweather tough times in store for the imaging center industry.The center association is negotiating group discounts on everythingfrom contrast agents to equipment upgrades by grouping its
Siemens folds Quantum, Gammasonics into unified U.S. structure under SMS
April 7th 1993Siemens initiated a restructuring of its U.S. medical operationslast week that will eventually centralize all corporate unitsunder Siemens Medical Systems in Iselin, NJ. The German vendorpreviously had U.S.-based medical businesses with worldwide
Center market awaits federal health-care action
April 7th 1993Funds for imaging center acquisitions have tightened as investorspull back and scope out the potentially radical changes in U.S.health-care delivery due for disclosure by the Clinton administrationin May. With imaging center operating profits under
Abdominal agent could take Squibb into ultrasound
March 10th 1993Bristol-Myers Squibb hopes the secret to unlocking the potentiallyhuge ultrasound contrast market lies in a derivative of a materialas rare as the common household plant. This month the companyrevealed the details of its licensing and manufacturing
Low-field MR vindicated at workers' comp hearing
March 10th 1993Manufacturers and users of low-field MRI scanners are breathinga little easier in California. Members of a physicians councilcharged with reforming the state's workers' compensation insurancesystem have moved a step closer to shelving a controversial
Low-field MRI vendors may dodge payment bullet
February 10th 1993Manufacturers and users of low-field MRI scanners will probablydodge a bullet this month that could have been fatal for low-fieldreimbursement in California's workers' compensation system. Membersof a medical council participating in reform of the system
Equipment-sharing bills resurface in Congress
February 10th 1993Proponents of health-care reform wasted little time resurrectingfederal legislation that would grant antitrust waivers to hospitalsplanning medical equipment-sharing arrangements. Similar legislationintroduced in the last session of Congress expired when
Omniscan hits market at a reduced price
January 27th 1993Sterling Winthrop made it three this month, as its Omniscan agent became the third MRI contrast product to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration marketing approval. The nonionic gadolinium agent will be sold in this market by Sanofi Winthrop, a joint
Medical Resources IPO will back center buys
November 4th 1992Imaging center firm Medical Resources (MRI) has paid down itsdebt from a leveraged buyout two years ago, raised $6 millionin new capital through an initial public stock offering and isready to start buying centers, according to chairman Ernest J.DeSalvo.