This article is from in the April 2008 issue of DOTmed Business News. A list of registered users that provide sales & service can be found at the end.

Computed tomography (CT) is a multi-billion dollar worldwide market, with more than 60 million CT procedures performed each year in North America. "This year," predicts Kerry Tucker, Vice President of Supply Chain Services for group purchasing giant Broadlane, "roughly 41 percent of hospitals will be purchasing a new CT."

But it's a different story for the free-standing imaging centers. DRA reimbursement cuts by Medicare for imaging procedures done outside of hospitals are taking their toll.
Some centers are consolidating, with others in bankruptcy or closing, industry experts have told DOTmed Business News. Fortunately a proposal to cut Medicare reimbursements for most CT angiography (CTA) has just been rejected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services after an outcry from physician groups.

The CT procedure growth rate is down in recent years. "With the impact of DRA reimbursements and radiology benefits management [which determines payment from insurers], the procedure growth rate will taper off to 7% [yearly] as opposed to the 10 to 12% rate we had seen in the past," said John Steidley, Vice President of Marketing for CT, Philips Healthcare, Cleveland, OH. "Over the past year and a half we have seen the market come down significantly in North America. We still see the market growing globally but in North America there's been a significant market correction."




Some recent good news for CT is that the American Cancer Society, American College of Radiology and other medical groups have endorsed CT colonography or so-called "virtual colonoscopy" as a front-line screening for detecting colon cancer, the third most common cancer and second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.

"Multi-Slice Envy" a Common Feeling

Over the last decade the race to acquire ever-higher-slice CT scanners has escalated from 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, up to 256. In the face of ever-changing technology, it appears that healthcare providers are beginning to settle into the level of technology that works for them - that is to say, if you're not doing angio CT, do you really need a 64-slice - or higher -machine?

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