NEWS — SEPTEMBER 22, 2003 - SEPTEMBER 28, 2003
CONSUMER HEALTH CARE & IMAGING SERVICES
Consumer & General Health Care:
Web Services Technology Deployed... by Partners Healthcare System Inc. (Boston MA) to deliver desktop and wireless access to clinical information. In an ongoing commitment to improve data distribution, the organization has expanded from an extensible markup based intranet to a Wi-Fi network. An estimated 10% of physicians within Partners currently use Fujitsu LifeBooks with Windows 2000 for wireless access to data such as allergy, medication, and procedure histories; lab results; and medical charts or place orders with hospital pharmacies. The Cache database from InterSystems Corporation (Cambridge MA) stores clinical and patient information. Security is achieved using the Active Directory from Microsoft Corporation (Redmond WA), which allows the data to exist within Partners' infrastructure as an enterprise master patient index. With the goal to eliminate paper records for medications administration, another application is being developed and scheduled for roll-out at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston MA) in Fall 2004. As the first wireless technology to be used at the Hospital, a mobile device will enable patient medication scanning through barcodes. These technologies are likely to improve decision-making and workflow for physicians and result in better outcomes and quality care for patients.
House Calls Are Still Being Made by Doctors in Rural Areas... according to the latest statistics included in the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC; Atlanta GA). While only 18% of doctors throughout the United States make house calls, approximately 33% of rural doctors do. Despite expectations to the contrary, e-mail consultations between patients and physicians remain relatively low and are only initiated by an estimated 6% of doctors. Diagnostic testing increased 28% from 1992 to 2001, demonstrating increased awareness of the value of early detection for chronic diseases and the importance of preventive care. More than half of the 880.5 million visits to doctors offices in the United States in 2001 were made by middle-aged individuals or senior citizens.
Imaging & Preventive Care:
CTI Capital Program Financing Advances... as officials with CTI Molecular Imaging Inc. (Knoxville TN) and De Lage Landen Financial Services Inc. (Wayne PA) sign a Letter of Intent. The objective is to provide flexible leasing options for a full range of PET (positron emission tomography) and computed tomography/PET imaging systems sold to CTI's customers. A formal financing program agreement is expected in early October.
A Nationwide U.S. Initiative Centered on CT Scanning... is being established by flexSCAN Inc. (Mission Viejo CA) to provide community based wellness services to corporate clients. In partnership with Alliance Imaging (Anaheim CA), flexSCAN will combine diet, fitness, health assessments, and medical record services with computed tomography (CT) screening through the flexPLUS program.
Chief Executive Officers of several major U.S. corporations who participated in the National Dialog on Cancer Roundtable are already committed to adding cancer screening to their companies' benefit packages in 2004 to expand coverage for an estimated 25 million employees. With geographic businesses that have been accredited, Alliance Imaging (Anaheim CA) is a leading provider of diagnostic services that performs an estimated one million scans annually with mobile and stationary CT, magnetic resonance, and PET systems.
Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) Offer... fast capture, processing, and delivery of x-ray and other imaging data. An estimated $6.0 million is being spent to incorporate PACS technology throughout the Baptist Health System (Knoxville TN), which includes Baptist Hospital of East Tennessee, Baptist Hospital of Cocke County, Baptist Senior Health Centers, Baptist Women's Hospital, and Baptist Hospital West. The latter facility has just opened, and the PACS technology has enabled physicians to view images on the Internet from any location in the hospital or from home with password-protected access. Benefits include improbed adherence to new federal health care regulations, more efficient responses to patient needs, and higher levels of patient safety. A similar strategy to provide system-wide access to data is being implemented by Covenant Health (Fort Sanders TN) for the Parkwest addition and new hospital in Lenoir City.
Second Quarter Financial Results Announced in Late August... for Medisys Health Group (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) demonstrate a 14% increase in revenues ($12.9 million Canadian in 2003 versus $11.3 million in 2002). The gain occurred despite appointment cancellations and postponements that occurred due to the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Toronto earlier in the year. Nearly $9.0 million Canadian was generated by the Corporate Health Services division through absenteeism and disability management, corporate outsourcing, executive health, and occupational health services. Other highlights during the quarter included progress toward the corporate goal of broadened medical imaging services with acquisition of MRI Scan Centre (Montreal) and the purchase of an axial CT scanner that is scheduled for installation in the Montreal office this month.
Several Preventive Scanning Businesses Are Scaling Back Services... or closing. This is apparently the case with facilities in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington, as reported in September 10th issue of the Wall Street Journal. Among the reasons for the decline is the competitive pricing that occurred as more centers opened to serve the same geographic regions. Two other adverse factors are the smaller-than-expected population of patients who are willing to pay for preventive scanning and the lack of repeat business from those individuals. The ongoing debate within the medical community regarding the overall value of CT health screens for the general public has also been detrimental.
flexScan, however, has demonstrated success by targeting scanning services to corporate clients, thereby avoiding the high advertising costs incurred by facilities that focused on members of the general public. Other health screening companies that remain profitable despite the market downturn can acquire facilities at a much lower cost than would be needed to build a facility from scratch.
