Your Guide to Medical Imaging Equipment

Not long ago, MRI users saw a shortage in the liquid helium supply that lasted several years. This was followed, until recently, by a period of recovery as government stockpiles were opened and a portion of that stored helium was released onto the market. Now, however, there is a sort of "shortage 2.0" in effect. To help all you MRI users better understand the scenario this time around, we'll share some details about the current shortage and what you can expect from it.

Earlier this week, the FDA released its report entitled, “FDA Report on the Quality, Safety, and Effectiveness of Servicing of Medical Devices in Accordance with Section 710 of the Food and Drug Administration Reauthorization Act of 2017 (FDARA).” This report has been eagerly anticipated in the medical device servicing and parts industry following a period of gathering public comment and objective evidence on the state of medical device service as provided by OEMs, third-party ISOs, and hospitals.

You can find our summary and response to the report below, or click here to read the full 32-page document.

If you own or operate a PET/CT, the moment you heard about NEMA standard XR-29 for CT scanners, your eyebrows, your ears, and the little hairs on the back of your neck probably all shot up in unison, and you thought: "Does that apply to my equipment too?" 

Since we originally published this article in 2014, current and prospective PET/CT users have continued to ask us this same question. Back then, there wasn't a lot of clarity to be had. Now, however, with XR-29 non-compliance penalties in full swing, the answers are in the open. Watch the brief clip below for an explanation of how NEMA XR-29 affects PET/CT equipment.

With new tax laws having just gone into effect, the tax landscape for organizations considering capital equipment purchases has changed in a significant way. Now, a buyer can take an immediate 100% depreciation on the purchase of a piece of used equipment; even equipment that has been fully depreciated by the previous owner. This has caused a stir in several industries (most notably aircraft sales) where the Wall Street Journal predicts, "It could mean a shuffling of assets by companies purely for tax reasons and mergers and acquisitions that exploit new tax edges."¹ 

We don't expect to see assets shuffling wildly in the medical imaging field, given the logistics of relocating the big metal modalities, but we do expect to see some facilities that have been biding their time on upgrades jumping into the market this year to take advantage of their new option for depreciation and deduction. Take a look at the examples below to see the difference.

Back in December 2015, the Section 179 deduction was raised to up to $500,000 on qualifying purchases under $2,000,000. The deduction rate (up from a drastic forecast the previous year of a mere $25,000) was retroactive for equipment purchased and installed in 2015 and will continue for purchases made throughout 2016. The 50% bonus depreciation, available in previous years, was also reinstated and kicks in once expenditures hit the 500k mark.

All of this is great news for anyone who has purchased or will purchase in the last bit of 2016, but what about 2017? For those who have followed Section 179, the deduction has changed quite a bit over the years and seems to be perennially on the table for more change. Well, now there’s more to the story that could make right now through December 31, 2017 the most advantageous Section 179 scenario yet.