The Radiology Department of CareMount Medical , the largest independent multi-specialty medical group in New York State, sets its patients’ safety and satisfaction as their number one priority. In 2016, CareMount Medical chose Medic Vision’s SafeCT® platform to offer its patients the most advanced and safe lung cancer screening, to comply with the NEMA XR-29 SmartDose regulation, and to provide real-time dose monitoring - while saving significant operational costs and avoiding reimbursement cuts.lMedicalMedical
The Challenge
In 2015 the CMS announced that Medicare will pay for lung cancer screening with low-dose CT (LDCT) for beneficiary patients. This progressive policy configurated the specific eligibility criteria for imaging centers, requiring a volumetric CT dose index (CTDIvol) of no more than 3.0 mGy for standard-size patients.
Months later, in early 2016, the NEMA XR-29 Smart Dose Standard took effect, encouraging radiology facilities to adopt safety features enabling optimization and management of CT radiation dose delivery while providing high quality medical images. To reassure compliance, the CMS announced penalties of up to 15% in reimbursement payments to non-compliant scanners.
As a result of these new regulations, and supporting its vision to deliver superior imaging services delivered by the most innovative imaging technologies available, CareMount Medical eagerly accepted the new rulings. Yet, the potential expense of replacing or upgrading its already advanced CT scanners could have proven very costly.
By complying with the strictest industry regulations and offering the most sophisticated CT technologies we ensure that our patients receive the best diagnostic outcome, in the safest way possible close to home. Medic Vision’s SafeCT® allowed us to monitor radiation dose levels, deliver ultra-low dose CT lung screening while retaining high image quality, and to save substantial costs that can be reinvested in our services.
John Basile, CRA, R.T., (R)(MR)
Administrative Director of Radiology.
The Solution
Medic Vision’s SafeCT add-on product line solution including several products aimed for reduction, management and reporting of CT radiation.
SafeCT Lung Screening allows any radiology facility to perform low-dose CT lung screening and obtain diagnostic-quality images on any scanner, new or old. It is a comprehensive, add-on solution product that dramatically enhances SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) of low-dose CT images.
SafeCT-29 alerts operators of excessively high dose prior to a scan, preventing further scanning until dose levels are confirmed or justified, and generates a structured dose report when the exam is completed. SafeCT-29 allows compliance with the NEMA XR-29 standard and is the only 3rd-party XR-29 solution that is endorsed by the CT OEMs.
SafeCT® Dose Reporting is the industry's first and only product to provide dose monitoring/reporting along with low-dose CT image enhancement in one solution. It continuously captures dose information directly from the CT scanner and saves it to a database for easy retrieval and analysis. Reports can be generated as may be needed – per patient, per day, per procedure.
Why SAFECT®? A One-Stop-Shop CT Radiation Management Solution
Implementing the SafeCT platform allows a comprehensive CT radiation compliance and enhanced customer satisfaction, while keeping low operational costs, as it performs at a comparable or better level than CT OEM solutions, and support all scanners, including models that are not supported by the OEMs.
SafeCT® products are in routine clinical use at over 300 leading medical centers and imaging practices across the USA, providing comprehensive compliance with low-dose CT regulations and initiatives. To date, more than 1.5 million scans have been performed with SafeCT low dose protocols.