There are so many different Computed Radiography systems out there it’s hard to know which one is best for your site, especially since you’re way too busy to research all those models by yourself. But, hard though it may be, the research HAS to be done. Nothing is more important to an equipment purchase than getting the right tool for the job. You wouldn't clean your windshield with steel wool, Sylvester Stallone wouldn’t film Rocky 7 with an iPhone, and a conscientious facility like yours wouldn’t be satisfied with any CR system but the model with the best balance of cost and throughput.

Have any of you women’s health providers ever wondered what happened to the Fischer Imaging Mammotest biopsy table? Why did these workhorse machines disappear? They seem to be one of those well-liked products that simply vanished from the regular market like Choose Your Own Adventure Books, or Squeezit fruit drinks, or Pauley Shore movies.

Last month, I described what “first-scan warranty pricing” is and why Block Imaging presents it from time to time.  While I believe it’s a powerful tool to help you make the very best decision in purchasing imaging equipment, I received an email from a partner and friend, Steve Ford, sharing some additional perspective that you might find helpful. 

 1.5 + 1.5 = 3, right? So a 3T MRI is twice as good as a 1.5T MRI, right?  As far as the field strength is concerned – sure. In the world of sales and marketing – absolutely.  But from an imaging standpoint, from a throughput standpoint, and from a cashflow standpoint – maybe not.  Before you spend (in some cases) twice the money for a 3T, it might benefit you to take a look at what it can do for you, what it can’t, and what you are planning on doing with it! 

As you investigate the PET/CT market, you’re going to hear a good deal of name-dropping: manufacturers, models, variants and revisions of those models, and so on. Amidst all of that, the name “Siemens Biograph Duo” is likely to slip from a colleague’s lips or appear in pleasant blue letters somewhere on your Google results page.

“I’m looking for a GE CT Scanner,” you say. “A used machine, dual-slice, made in the mid-to-late 2000s.”

Remember the first time you went skiing? Or maybe the first hill of your first big roller coaster? That feeling at the back of your throat; the one where you want to scream but you can’t? 

Derek Bok of Harvard University once said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance”. I can say that, in spite of the student loans incurred during my college years, Mr. Bok is correct. Now you may ask, "What does this have to do with C-Arms?" So glad you asked...

Congratulations!  You have just purchased your refurbished C-Arm, CT, MRI, Cath/Angio, Rad room or other piece of medical imaging equipment and now you’re waiting to have it delivered and installed so you can start using it.  You’ve selected technicians that know the modality in general, but they are not familiar with THIS manufacturer’s version of the equipment so you figure that you need applications training. 

Having seen and heard some of the most hideous shipping stories known to man, our Project Management (PM) team has strived through the years to overcome many of the obstacles that we face in Logistics. In the C-Arm world, my job can sometimes be pretty easy… I mean, it’s only two pieces of machinery right? Well, unfortunately, as we say around the ranch here, “They don’t make a C-arm-sized FedEx envelope”.

For our most loyal blog followers it should (hopefully) come as no surprise that we, as a company, care about people- our team, our families, friends, customers, patients, and folks around the world whom we’ve never met. We recognize that life’s basics; food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, mustn’t be taken for granted, let alone cell phones, GPS, climate-controlled homes and cars, pharmaceuticals; the list of life-improving amenities goes on.

Searching for the perfect Cath Lab? It’s a lot more work than you thought, huh? Some people love the hunt, the chance to see what the imaging equipment jungle has to offer and to snare the system that best balances utility and economy for their site. Others: not so much. It can be incredibly difficult to hunt when you have no idea what prey you’re after.

I want to start this blog off with a confession to all our regular readers and medical imaging equipment parts buyers: the following message is partially motivated by selfish reasons. But, if you had to look at the dejected faces of our inventory coworkers as document-less packages come off trucks, if you had to hear them exhaling a small piece of their soul with each mournful sigh, I’m convinced you’d write such a message too.

So, you're in the market for a fluoroscopy room. You want the technology of the latest and greatest GE Precision 500D but perhaps you don't have the budget, or perhaps there are none immediately available on the refurbished market. There’s good news: there is a good middle ground option for you with the Infimed Digital Upgrade for GE Advantx R/F rooms.