Your Guide to Medical Imaging Equipment

Thanks for stopping by to learn about XR-29. Click here to determine if your CT is XR-29 compliant: Is My CT Scanner Compliant?

You might be surprised to hear that XR-29 is NOT about low dose. Click here to read more: Do I Need Iterative Reconstruction?

Are you asking yourself if you should buy an after-market add-on to make your CT compliant? Click here to find out why the answer is probably no: NEMA Whitepaper Clarifies Aftermarket Add-ons, RDSR, and More

Remember also that XR-29 only Affects Medicare Outpatients in Hospitals and Clinics and Does not Apply to PET/CT

Last, but not least, here is A Guide to Checking Your System for XR-29 Compliance.

Keep reading here for an analysis of the law itself.

On April 1, 2014, President Obama signed into law the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (HR 4302). Per the act, beginning in 2016, Medicare paid less for certain diagnostic CT scans performed on CT equipment that does not meet the XR-29 CT standard (MITA Smart Dose) .  

What does this mean for you? For some, not a lot. Many CT scanners already meet the requirements. For others, the legislation meant replacing their system altogether or facing the applicable reimbursement cuts. To help you get a better idea of how XR-29 might affect your next CT equipment decision, we've taken a closer look at the law and the penalties below.

Veterinarians have unique needs, and I don’t just mean an outdoor, fenced-in bathroom for patients. Vets care deeply for animals, and imaging equipment can be as critical to their work as it is to the work of doctors serving human patients. Unlike doctors for humans, however, vets can’t count on insurance or government reimbursement. They must think more economically about their equipment, especially “big metal” systems like MRI and CT. That's why we've compiled four CT scanners we recommend every vet consider as they shop in the CT market.

We often talk about the ease of finding engineering and third-party parts support for GE CT scanners like the Lightspeed, Brightspeed, and VCT. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we've also discussed the “premium”, late-model scanners that just haven’t hit the market with enough consistency (like the Siemens Definition Force or GE Revolution EVO) to make third-party service and parts viable for a few more years. On that latter end of the spectrum, there are also some systems that, unless something big changes soon, are unlikely to ever come out from under the yoke of OEM service. 

If you're hoping to purchase a CT and save on service and parts by working with an independent service organization (ISO) and third-party parts suppliers, the following are three systems you may want to avoid. Please note that none of these remarks are a commentary on the quality of a system, but rather the access owners have to parts and affordable support for it.

The GE LightSpeed VCT 64 has been the most popular 64-slice CT in the world since it rolled off the line in Milwaukee in 2005. Since then, as GE seeks to maintain their market share, they've rolled out two successors to the VCT: The Discovery 750 HD and Optima 660. In designing these systems, they’ve kept some of the features that made the VCT popular- smaller footprint, similar operating systems, air cooling- but also made significant changes that improve performance and offer more options. Below are some of the biggest changes that distinguish the Optima 660 from the Discovery 750 HD, and distinguish both models from the VCT.