From the June 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


After Diagnosis Related Groups, first introduced in New Jersey in 1980, went national, it became lucrative to establish freestanding imaging clinics that could get reasonable reimbursements from Medicare. The situation also increased the client pool for dealers of refurbished equipment. “It was a good time for the refurb market,” says Don Bogutski, president of Diagnostix Plus, Inc., a supplier of new and refurbished nuclear medicine equipment and services. “These freestanding clinics were owned by entrepreneurs, not doctors, and one thing they had in common was the ability to assess the benefits of going with used, as opposed to new, equipment. “


Healthy reimbursement rates coupled with actively seeking the best buys on equipment – whether new or used, meant these facilities were working with a good profit and loss model. But all good things come to an end and the pendulum swung the other way in 2009. That year, Medicare took another look at the situation and reset the clock – deciding it would be cost-effective to bring scans back to hospitals, so reimbursements to private centers were slashed. The blow staggered the industry. It was followed by the current recession and the lending market tightened its purse strings and began to aggressively call in outstanding debts. Once-thriving freestanding imaging clinics were forced to quickly develop new business strategies to remain solvent.
Strategies for survival
Private practices faced challenges few had experienced. Many patients had come to expect a full-spectrum of care which included nuclear medical imaging services. But independent doctors found it difficult to rationalize the purchase of expensive imaging devices when new reimbursement and utilization rules might at best, allow them to break even.

That’s why business has been humming for Mathew’s company, which supplies SPECT cameras via a lease program. “We wheel them in, the exams are done, we wheel them back out,” he explains. “It’s nice for doctors who don’t have high volume, but want to provide a service that will help them retain patients.”

Getting the benefits without the burden is a good way for health care providers to stay afloat. By utilizing a lease service, there’s no need for a hot lab or a technologist, a service contract for machine maintenance or pharmaceutical contracts. But Mathews does point out, the solution Nuclear Medicine Professionals provides doesn’t make sense for everyone. If the service is needed more than twice a week, it’s probably more cost-effective to purchase a system.

June 2011 Magazine

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