Cardiovascular Business - January/February 2009 - (Page 30)

plugged In compact echoes for use in an outpatient lab, because it’s easier to use the larger units in that setting,” Milani says. The key factor is volume. At the Ochsner Clinic, for example, the compact echo device is used as an extra TEE unit, since the clinic has a high-volume lab performing at least five to 10 TEEs a day. “We have two outpatient suites and we use the compact system as a second unit in one of those suites when volume is down in the inpatient setting,” Milani richard V. milani, mD, director of noninvasive laboratories at says. If there is enough business Ochsner Clinic Foundation in new Orleans, la. to keep the compact system “running hot” in an inpatient setting, then it makes sense to have them. In addition to cardiac imaging, the clinic also does vascular service machines,” says Richard A. Grimm, DO, director of the imaging, which allows physicians to do a multitude of funcecho lab at the Cleveland Clinic. “The pursuit in the ultrasound tions with the one compact device. The true business advantage industry has been to provide a machine that is the equivalent to of these systems comes from time-savings and improvements in the more fully capable equipment in the larger package.” workflow and productivity as cardiology imaging volumes ebb The Cleveland Clinic is using compact echo systems in both and flow. Determining the number of systems to purchase is the inpatient and outpatient settings. Portables are universally based on how long it takes to complete a study and the amount used for inpatients and the priority locations are the ICU and the of volume per day. hospital wards. “We can do echo at the bedside in wards or at ultrasound labs,” says Grimm. The compact systems do not replace the full-sized systems, imaging armamentarium Grimm says. “In our environment these compact machines are Small, portable systems make sense, as long as the image qualpart of the equipment that we have available, part of the imaging ity can aid in diagnosis. If poor image quality from a handarmamentarium.” held system results in inconclusive data, the possibility of As long as compact systems are near in performance to the repeat exams means additional time and money. However, more full-service machines for fundamental imaging, it’s a “nomanufacturers have been working continuously on improvbrainer” from a business standpoint, Grimm suggests. “They will ing the drawbacks experienced with the first-generation be useful and well accepted as long as the image quality and the compact systems. performance capability support the standards and demands of “The general disadvantage from these portable systems had the facility.” been that the image quality was not quite the same as the full- “the question really is about maneuverability and getting close enough to patients, especially in the ICu setting with machines and ventilators, which can be a daunting task to pull off.” 30 Cardiovascular Business January/February 2009

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cardiovascular Business - January/February 2009

Cardiovascular Business - January/February 2009 Contents First Word Electrophysiology Roundtable Forum: A Candid Conversation about Profits, Procedures and Patients Heart Failure Care Gets Boost from Technology Emerging Technologies in Peripheral Vascular Interventions Stent vs. Graft: Choosing the Best Path for the Diabetic Patient with Multivessel Disease Cardiology Groups and Hospitals Strive to ‘Connect’ Seamlessly CT Beyond 64 Slices Clinical Study Digest: Kidney Disease & PCI; Women and Valve Disease Compact Echo Systems Come Up Big in Cardiac Care News & Views Reader Resources The ACC Corner

Cardiovascular Business - January/February 2009

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