by
Lisa Chamoff, Contributing Reporter | October 13, 2015
From the October 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
A Siemens notification dated Sept. 1, 2015, stated that “we have determined that 90 percent of our non-end-of-support CT installed base either meets or can be upgraded to comply with NEMA XR-29 with a free of charge upgrade.”
Megan Hayes, director of regulatory and standards strategy for MITA, says the legislation was in response to media reports about radiation overdoses in California. “We did what we could do within our scope to balance patient safety with the quality of a diagnostic image,” Hayes says.
“If we had done nothing, people would be screaming that we had done nothing.” MITA has estimated that a third of the U.S. installed base can’t be upgraded, and would have to replace its scanners in order to comply with XR-29.
Patrick Hope, executive director of MITA, says the group has still been looking at the number to see if it has changed.
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Can third-party products help with compliance?
There has been some confusion about whether third-party products will allow facilities to meet the standards. Many companies have been advertising add-on solutions for legacy CT equipment that are compliant with the Smart Dose Standard. In May, MITA published a white paper with a guide for evaluating third-party modifications or solutions, suggesting providers, “approach the decision to purchase a solution with caution” and ask the vendor for detailed information on how its product meets the MITA standards.
Manufacturers say they know of no third-party solution that meets MITA’s requirements. “The opportunity is there for somebody to develop a solution that will meet the XR- 29 standards,” says
Scott Merriman, installed base marketing manager for molecular imaging and CT at GE. “At this time, we are not aware of a third-party solution that truly meets all of the requirements outlined in the standard.”
Recently, Zetta Medical, which markets a product called Z-Dose that the company says interfaces with CT scanners from the major OEMs and provides for all four of the MITA Smart Dose requirements, published an FAQ on its Web site addressing the points in the MITA white paper.
Mike Ghaza, president and chief executive officer of Zetta Medical, says he has also contacted MITA to get more clarification. “To our knowledge, we will install the software, give them a certificate and they will submit their codes and scans that they are in compliance,” Ghaza says.
