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As of July 1, 2009, Michael Reitermann, previously CEO of Siemens' Molecular Imaging Business Unit, will take over as CEO of the U.S. organization of Siemens Healthcare. Reitermann will be head of marketing, logistics, sales and service for all aspects of the company's U.S. Healthcare profile, including health care information technology, medical therapy and imaging.

The Siemens CEO recently held a roundtable with other company executives, nuclear medicine practitioners, DOTmed and other members of the media to discuss the current challenges and opportunities faced by the health care industry and imaging in particular. He noted that Siemens held 60 percent of U.S. SPECT and PET sales in 2002 and 40 percent of that market now, a troubling statistical decline for the company.



During the meeting, Reitermann stated that more studies needed to be conducted to quantify the benefits of advanced imaging. He referred to a just-published Columbia University study, partially funded by Siemens, that provides an analysis of how certain variables have affected life expectancy across the United States. The variables included insurance coverage, quality of physician education, the use of advanced diagnostic imaging, and risk factors like smoking and BMI (an obesity measure) among state populations. According to the study, life expectancy in the U.S. has increased 2.37 years from 1991 to 2004, and advanced medical imaging could be responsible for nearly nine months of that additional lifespan. While the study was encouraging, imaging-dedicated studies are expensive and don't often get proper funding, said Reitermann. The increased use of ARRA-promoted quality control and reporting technology could be used to better understand the effect of state-of-the-art imaging technology across patient populations. Positive outcomes could provide some clout for better imaging reimbursement in the future.

The new CEO seemed cautiously optimistic about the continuing development of the positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance (PET/MR) hybrid, stating that despite concerns about health care reform, Siemens is responsible for staying innovative. When asked if Siemens would complete the development of such experimental technologies in the current political and economic climate, Reitermann replied that once a certain level of development has been achieved, there's no going back. "We will conclude that development," he said.

"Enabling our partners to maintain clinical viability and provide value to the patients they serve is critical to our mission during these challenging economic times. It is, therefore, imperative that we find a way to offer our customers both high-quality solutions and access to advanced technologies," noted Reitermann in a meeting release.

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