Medical Imaging Equipment Costs

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A look at the ROI on moving from film to digital medical imaging.

Upgrading your office’s medical imaging equipment from film to digital can be a smart strategy for building your practice and expanding your range of billable services. Plus, digital medical imaging delivers a wealth of benefits you really need to experience to fully appreciate.

For example, you can say goodbye to the costs and handling required for film and toxic chemicals. Also, you can experience the superb image quality that only digital medical imaging can provide – and access your images faster than ever before. You can reclaim and repurpose your darkroom area. And, you’ll save additional space by storing electronic images rather than physical films.

However, first you need to understand the potential financial impacts of a digital upgrade – especially if yours is a smaller practice.

Financial benefits of digital medical imaging

The initial price of entry for digital is significant. You might need financing for a portion of the cost. This may affect your existing debt load and your ability to purchase other products or services.

However, when you look beyond the out-of-pocket costs for digital technology and consider the dramatic potential for savings over time, you’ll see how easily you can generate a return on investment, recover your initial outlay of money, and get ahead financially in a relatively short period of time.

Medical imaging equipment cost: calculating the ROI on moving from film to digital

To project your ROI, start by recording the cost of your new medical imaging equipment and its annual maintenance. Then determine the number of years for depreciation (typically five). This will give you the total amount your upgrade will cost in the first year and over its subsequent life.

Next, look at the cost savingsthat digital medical imaging will deliver. This includes yearly costs for:

• Film and chemical purchases
• Expenses associated with your film processor (rental, maintenance, chemical disposal, permits)
• Costs for storage of printed films (film jackets, storage space)
• Technologists time and cost for retakes

Now, total the expenses that you will eliminate with digital.

Next, analyze the potential for increased revenue. Consider your current billings and whether you’ll be able to increase them by moving to digital medical imaging. Digital images offer valuable benefits to patients that most will be willing to pay for. These include faster image access and diagnosis, the ability for your clients to access their own X-rays, and higher image quality.

Moreover, digital will let you achieve higher productivity and throughput. You’ll be able to accommodate an increased number of patients and exams, and the associated higher revenue potential.

Finally, apply your anticipated cost savings and increased revenue against your total upgrade cost. This will give you a clear – and most likely highly favorable – picture of the actual cost of your digital medical imaging equipment.

Are you ready to make the move to digital? Explore Carestream’s suite of affordable solutions:

DR Retrofit Solutions

DIRECTVIEW Classic CR System 

Vita Flex CR System

CARESTREAM Focus Detectors

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Edwin Pinto is a General Manager – Imaging Systems for Carestream Health India Pvt. Ltd.