While the DRA has cut short the burgeoning growth of imaging services, particularly those offered by outpatient centers, it also presents other players in the imaging value chain with new opportunities.
Over the last year, we have seen more consolidation in the outpatient sector, resulting in mergers amongst medical groups and freestanding centers. This has led to an increasing number of purchasing groups and IDNs controlling purchasing for hospitals and freestanding centers. But because the DRA targeted nonhospital reimbursement, it has created new prospects for many hospitals looking to expand their outpatient imaging, oncology and women’s healthcare services.
Similarly, Imaging Technology News (ITN) will expand its reach by absorbing Outpatient Care Technology magazine, its sister publication. Through this merger, ITN now provides relevant information to a more-inclusive universe of healthcare technology purchasing decision-makers in group practices, freestanding centers and in all acute care hospitals, offering both inpatient and outpatient imaging, radiation oncology and women’s health services.
To celebrate ITN extended presence in the outpatient market, the October issue will honor Breast Cancer Awareness month by featuring the “Top 10 Advances in Breast Imaging Technology,” emphasizing ITN commitment to delivering coverage of the latest imaging technology in the outpatient care sector.
As we welcome Outpatient Care readers, ITN will continue to bring extensive coverage of technology critical to both the hospital and outpatient care settings, and we promise to deliver it fast.
These days, we all work at a faster pace and there is not a second to lose when diagnosing and treating patients. That is why ITN brings the news you need directly to your desktop. Just sit back and check your eMail to get the week’s wrap up in the ITN weekly eNewsletter. On our new Web site, launching this September, get customized data relevant to your interests in specialized portals that focus on women’s health, radiation oncology, imaging and more.
Plus, now you can get to a trade show a lot quicker with ITN. Simply head to the home page of ITNonline.net and launch our “FastPass” microsites where you can take a virtual tour of major trade shows. So, before packing your bags for the ASTRO conference, get a sneak peak of what technology will be featured via the “ASTRO FastPass.” Then in October, get a head start on RSNA 2008 by mapping out your strategy using the “RSNA FastPass,” complete with vendor booth information and product previews.
Looking toward 2009, we want to help you track market trends, project outcomes and improve your practice’s performance. That is why ITN is introducing an “Imaging Business” section. Every issue, we check the pulse of the market through the perspectives of industry experts and research analysts following the continual shifts in the healthcare landscape. We deliver this market data to your desktop too.
When delivering optimal care to patients, there is no time to lose. So don’t waste your time searching for the news, let ITN drive it to you.