Growth rate of nonradiologists owning or leasing PET equipment higher than radiologists

Mar 10 2010

Positron Corporation (OTCBB:POSC). The growth rate among nonradiologists who own or lease PET equipment was far higher than radiologists between 2002 and 2007, according to a study published in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR Volume 7, Issue 3, March 2010, Pages 187-191).

The data for the study was collected utilizing the Medicare Part B Physician/Supplier Procedure Summary Master Files for 2002 through 2007.

The study states "Although a large percentage of PET scans in private offices are done by radiologists (45.4 percent in 2007), the growth rate among nonradiologists was far higher (737 percent) than radiologists (259 percent) between 2002 and 2007 and private-office PET market share for nonradiologists rose from 13 percent in 2002 to 24 percent in 2007”, according to Rajan Agarwal, MD and colleagues at the department of radiology, University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia.

“Five specialty groups accounted for 95 percent of all nonradiologist PET volume in 2007: internal medicine subspecialties (28,324 studies in 2007), medical oncology (14,320 studies), cardiology (13,724 studies), radiation oncology (9,563 studies), and primary care (2,398 studies), An additional contributing factor could be technical reimbursements for PET scans. Favorable technical-component reimbursements increase the profitability of scans performed on privately owned scanners, providing further incentive to nonradiologists to purchase PET scanners,” added Agarwal.