Medical Arts Radiology of Long Island, NY, reduced radiation exposure risks for its patients, complied with the latest federal regulations and achieved significant savings, by implementing Medic Vision SafeCT® for its CT scanner array.
With eight outpatient facilities throughout Long Island, NY, Medical Arts Radiology, has been providing thousands of patients with the latest advances in diagnostic imaging technologies, for over 70 years. As a leading imaging provider, Medical Arts Radiology is committed to minimize patients' radiation exposure without compromising image or diagnostic quality.
Medical Arts Radiology has been vanguard in providing its patients ultra-low dose CT scans since 2011, when it implemented the SafeCT® solution in all its CT scanners, at all of its eight locations. SafeCT is a universal 3D iterative image reconstruction system that enables the use of ultra low-dose CT protocols on scanners of all vendors and models, by substantially increasing SNR and image quality. In addition, implementing the SafeCT solution, has also allowed Medical Arts Radiology to offer its patients an innovative low-dose CT lung screening. Low-dose CT has recently garnered support from major medical societies as the modality-of-choice for screening heavy smokers for lung cancer.
Naturally, when the NEMA XR-29 Smart Dose Standard, took effect in January 1, 2016, Medical Arts Radiology acted fast and was one of the first medical organizations to prevent over-dose CT scans and comply with the protective act, set for optimizing and managing radiation dose delivery when using CT equipment. Their active compliance with the important federal ruling, not only positioned Medical Arts Radiology at the forefront of patient safety, but has also served the firm by avoiding 5% reimbursement cuts in 2016 and 15% in 2017.
"Medical Arts Radiology is proud to be the first imaging center in Long Island to offer fully compliant ultra-low dose CT in all of our locations. SafeCT allowed us up to 50% reduction in radiation without compromising image quality. Furthermore, the SafeCT-29 prevents over-dose scans and provides complete dose reporting to all of our CT scanners. With these capabilities we are able to offer our patients superior service while improving our bottom line”
- Pradeep Albert, MD
The Challenge:
Complying to New Federal Regulations, Reducing CT Radiation Exposure Risks and Avoiding a Substantial Financial Burden
The Smart Dose Standard is part of the undergoing federal efforts to ensure that patients will receive optimized radiation dose per specific protocol. As of Jan 1, 2016, when the act was effective, non-compliant CT scanners were penalized by 5% reduction in reimbursement per scan, and as of January 1, 2017 the penalty was tripled to 15%.
The need and the urgency of the Smart Dose act was accepted by all concerning parties, yet many hospitals and particularly independent outpatient imaging centers were overwhelmed by the potential costs of replacing all its current scanners that could be virtually new, merely used for only a year or two.
The cost of a new scanner, and most likely several machines could lead to a significant monetary barrier. This predicament caused many diagnostic imaging centers to be penalized, loose hundred of dollars per scan, and leave its patients at risk to non-accurate radiation dose exposure.
The Solution:
Medic Vision SafeCT Product Line
Medic Vision SafeCT-29 is a comprehensive, vendor-neutral solution for achieving compliance with the NEMA XR-29 Smart Dose standard. The SafeCT-29 performs real-time dose data analysis, alerts operators of excessively high dose and prevents further scanning until dose levels are confirmed or justified. Moreover, it is the only 3rd-party XR-29 solution that is endorsed by all the CT OEMs.
The SafeCT product line by Medic Vision is based on a proprietary patented image reconstruction algorithm, which dramatically enhances the SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) of low-dose CT images generated by conventional scanners. Medic Vision’s proprietary state-of-the-art SNR enhancement algorithm is a non-linear volumetric algorithm that preserves image edges and detail.
Medic Vision CT technologies offer the potential for significant reduction in CT radiation with no trade-off in terms of image quality and diagnostic value, and with no interruption to the clinical workflow. The vendor independent CT radiation management and monitoring solutions, help achieve compliance with related regulatory requirements and initiatives:
- Low-dose CT scanning: Dose reduction, ALARA, Image Gently
- Low Dose CT Lung Screening
- XR-29 “Smart Dose” Standard
- Dose Reporting requirements by the Joint Commission and certain U.S. states
SafeCT platform supports CT scanners of all vendors and models and encompasses several proprietary patented technologies: Iterative Image Reconstruction, 3D image processing, GPU computing, and dose analytics.
Great post! While there may be initial investments associated with improving patient radiation safety, these investments can lead to significant cost savings and improved quality of care over time. It’s important for healthcare providers to strike a balance between ensuring patient safety and managing costs effectively to provide high-quality, cost-efficient care.