Facility Management

Sen. Stevens may step in again if reimbursement does not materializeIt may take some effort for the nuclear medicine community to increase the number of PET applications eligible for Medicare reimbursement. At a town hall meeting in Baltimore last

Exclusion rule would bar companies from MedicareMedical device manufacturers are keeping an eye on how the U.S. government enforces a new rule on Medicare reimbursement that could have a big impact on equipment purchasing. While the rule is

Lobbyists fight for adequate contrast reimbursementIn November, the medical imaging community breathed a sigh of relief when industry advocates persuaded the Health Care Financing Administration to postpone cuts in technical reimbursement for

Firm sees potential in combo CT/PET sitesImatron took over officially as controlling shareholder of moribund PET manufacturer Positron of Houston last month. The move does not mean, however, that the South San Francisco-based supplier of ultrafast

Most companies aim products at cost-effectivenessA California company that sees the PET market as a promising opportunity for shared imaging services is gearing up for business. Mobile PET Systems of San Diego is taking delivery on two PET cameras

Company moves forward despite shareholder suitsADAC Laboratories highlighted new ventures in radiation therapy planning, nuclear medicine, and image and information management as promising areas for growth at a presentation at this month’s

Picker International’s campaign to make magnetic source imaging (MSI) a tool for routine clinical imaging received a boost last month when the Food and Drug Administration cleared the company’s Vectorview scanner. Picker hopes the FDA’s

Nuclear medicine vendors rolled into the RSNA show confident in the strength of the technology advances in their exhibits and the health of the overall market. The U.S. nuclear medicine market exhibited robust growth in 1998, with vendors predicting that

Agency shelves steep technical component pay cutsIn the face of intense industry pressure, the Health Care Financing Administration this month decided to maintain current Medicare payment levels for the technical component of outpatient imaging

Company restructures to reduce high cash-burn rateUltrasound contrast developer Molecular Biosystems of San Diego announced a corporate restructuring this month to slow the rate at which the company is burning cash. The move poses troubling

Company must work on getting reimbursement for productThe Food and Drug Administration this month dispelled any notion that it might be dragging its feet on the approval of ultrasound contrast agents when it gave the go-ahead on Nov. 3 to Bracco

The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) appears to have stepped back from its plan to cut Medicare payments for outpatient medical imaging procedures. In the Nov. 2 Federal Register, the agency published its decision to maintain current

HCFA tightens control on reimbursementsAfter years of threatening to curb outpatient healthcare costs, the Health Care Financing Administration has finally put some bite into its bark. Over the last five months, HCFA has published two rules in the

PET unit installed at private hospital in HawaiiJapanese photomultiplier tube supplier Hamamatsu Photonics is pursuing the research side of positron emission tomography with a new PET camera the company has installed at an imaging center in

Physician practice management firm American Physician Partners continues its imaging center buying binge. The Dallas company announced last month that it acquired the four imaging centers of WB&A Imaging, a 15-physician radiology practice in

Imaging center firm HealthCare Imaging Services of Middletown, NJ, plans to beef up its presence in its home state by acquiring five imaging centers. The aggregate purchase price of the centers is $21 million, and HCIS expects the facilities to generate

Firm plans slow but steady expansionNature abhors a vacuum, and the imaging center market is no exception. Several smaller companies are looking to fill the void left by the temporary withdrawal of U.S. Diagnostic and Medical Resources from active

ISO finally begins sales of InnerVision scannerIt helps to use levers when prying open a new imaging niche. Independent service organization COHR of Chatsworth, CA, hopes to leverage its extensive network of field service engineers to give the

Company seeks to be key medical instruments providerSince the mid-1990s, medical imaging industry observers have been waiting for the image-guided surgery segment to come to fruition. Growth has been slow, but some medical device companies claim

Per-Se installs ProgRIS at U.S. Diagnostic sitesPer-Se Technologies has announced that imaging center chain US Diagnostic has completed a successful pilot implementation of the Atlanta-based company's ProgRIS radiology information system in the

The president and CEO of Syncor International's Comprehensive Medical Imaging center business has left the company after only five weeks on the job, the Woodland Hills, CA, firm reported last month. James Usdan resigned from CMI effective July 10, just

Purchases may reflect trend toward niche-market PPMsIn a fluctuating healthcare market dominated by managed care, stability can be hard to find, especially for private-practice physicians. Since the early 1990s, physician practice management (PPM)

News provides psychological boost to contrast firmUltrasound contrast developer Sonus Pharmaceuticals took a giant step forward in its quest to market a proprietary ultrasound contrast agent. On July 20, the company announced that the European

Firm to focus on marketing ultrafast CT unitsWhen South San Francisco firm Imatron posted its 1997 fiscal results in April, it faced an all-too-familiar problem. Although sales of its premium ultrafast CT scanners had climbed, the company reported

Nuclear medicine and information systems vendor ADAC Laboratories reported record third-quarter results last month and predicted good times ahead due to the Health Care Financing Administration's publication of reimbursement rates for PET studies. The

Lunar's fourth-quarter financial results continue to reflect flat conditions in the bone densitometry market, as the Madison, WI-based company saw revenues decline 4% during its fourth quarter. For the period (end-June), revenues were $21.3 million,

Caprius of Wilmington, MA, has sealed an acquisition deal with Strax Breast Diagnostic Institute, a breast imaging center in Lauderhill, FL. Strax reported annual revenues of about $1.3 million for 1997 and received about 15,000 patients. The

Densitometry firms hope HCFA news will boost marketLunar of Madison, WI, celebrated last month when the Food and Drug Administration approved the company’s Achilles+ ultrasonometer less than a week after the Health Care Financing

HCFA submits telemedicine proposal for commentReimbursement policy would exclude store-and-forward consultations Lack of Medicare reimbursement has long been considered a primary stumbling block to the implementation and expansion of

CompuMed of Manhattan Beach, CA, announced this month its intention to acquire the assets of Northeast Imaging Center of East Orange, NJ. The deal will increase CompuMed's revenues by about 50% and will give the firm access to a medical imaging operation