Sensible Solutions for Refurbished Radiology

If you own a healthcare clinic, practice, facility or hospital, you probably already know about the benefits of buying a used or refurbished C-Arm.  And the benefits are many:

Over the past two decades, the field of vascular medicine has grown rapidly. Its reach extends well beyond the treatment of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). Today cardiologists, cardiovascular specialists and surgeons are treating a diverse range of arterial and venous conditions and diseases.

Was 2016 a good year for you? I guess it depends on what you compare it to. 

The second part of our C-Arm spotlight series focuses on Philips. Philips has always played the role of little brother to GE OEC C-Arms. Philips C-Arms are great but generally not regarded as highly as the OECs. Philips missed an opportunity to take control of the C-Arm market when OEC was shut down by the FDA. OEC was able to stay the market leader of C-Arms even after having the work stoppage. Philips does very well specifically with Hospitals that buy only Philips equipment across all modalities. Philips is also ahead of OEC when it comes to flat panel detector C-Arms, but Philips does have stiff competition from the Siemens and Ziehm FD C-Arms.

A teenager zigs when he should have zagged while skiing.  A grandmother misses a last step on the stairwell at her vacation rental.  A golf swing ended up going awry.  These are the folks that end up at your orthopedic surgical center, healthcare clinic or hospital.  C-Arm to help them get back in the swing of things. (Ok, we couldn’t resist that one.)

We are back from another fantastic trip to Chicago for the ASC Becker’s Conference! It was a great two-day show from start to finish. With celebrities like Pat Riley and Sugar Ray Leonard giving speeches to kick things off, the energy just felt vibrant from the get-go. The Atlantis Worldwide President, Jeff Weiss, and the National Sales Manager, Alex Silbergleit, were there as exhibitors welcoming a record number of attendants at the booth.

There is a rising demand for interventional radiology procedures—and for good reason.  There’s a rise in minimally invasive procedures.  For example, we’re seeing a shift from open aortic surgery to minimally invasive procedures.  Plus, we’re also seeing an increase in endovascular cancer care.  Right now, image intensifiers are the mainstream technology, but the clock is definitely ticking.  It’s believed that flat panel detectors will soon become the standard for mobile C-Arms.

As we head into the final months of 2016, we thought it would be a good time to showcase each C-Arm manufacture and discuss our opinions on their C-Arms and where they are headed as a company.

As healthcare and diagnostics improve for human patients, so it does for members of the animal kingdom.  And perhaps one of the most important tools to improve treatment for dogs, cats, horses and other mammals are C-Arms. Before you think your practice can’t afford one, think again.  There are plenty of used and refurbished C-Arms on the market that can make a Mobile C-Arm a reality for your practice. Even if you have limited space, in all likelihood there’s a C-Arm that will work for you.

Its a digital (detector) world! In a few years the word analog will be ancient history. We are beginning to see digital detectors on just about every imaging system from Mammography to C-Arms to X-Ray. But it is with X-Ray where the Federal Government is starting to make the strongest push for change. With the passing of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016  the reimbursement rates for Analog X-Ray systems will start to decline starting in 2017. Which begs the question, what are YOU going to do?