Portable X-rays play
an indispensable role
in many critical care
settings, such the ER,
and perform about
50% of all X-rays
in a hospital.
an indispensable role
in many critical care
settings, such the ER,
and perform about
50% of all X-rays
in a hospital.
DOTmed Industry Sector Report: Portable X-rays -- The Workhorses of a Hospital
May 11, 2007
by Barbara Kram, Editor
This article is from in the June 2007 issue of DOTmed Business News. A list of registered users that provide sales & service can be found at the end.
Many cliches spring to mind to describe the role of portable X-ray devices in a hospital: You're only as strong as your weakest link. Or, how about: For the want of a nail the kingdom was lost.
These unheralded machines play an indispensable role in many critical care settings such the ER, so it's important to keep them in service at all times. The hospital's biomedical engineering department certainly has a lot of other high-tech priorities, including state-of-the-art technologies. It's easy to overlook the humble portable X-ray machine.
Philips' Practix Convenio portable X-ray
system, one of the many versatile portable
models on the market today.
(Click to enlarge)
"What we found is that the biomedical engineer typically has to take care of all the imaging equipment in the hospital. Although the portable is the tiniest piece of the puzzle that the biomedical engineer works on, it's also the biggest headache if it doesn't work because it's used in the critical situations," said Maggie O'Mahoney, Marketing and Sales Manager, Mobile X-Ray Solutions, Inc., Augusta, Ga. "When the tech goes to take it to the cardiac cath lab or the neonatal intensive care room or the operating room, it has to work."
The company rebuilds, upgrades, sells and rents GE AMX portables and parts and offers technical training and support. (The company is a spin-off of Benco, known for rebuilding the portables for GE.) The GE AMX line is the "Cadillac" portable X-ray units, although Toshiba and Siemens also manufacture the equipment.
"Our aim is to eliminate the down time with those units, eliminate maintenance issues. We have a commitment that we can in almost every case get a portable back up and running in 24 hours," O'Mahoney said.
A 1994 GE AMX-IV portable X-ray unit fully
refurbished by Metropolis International. All worn
out and damaged parts were replaced with original
OEM replacement parts before QA testing.
(Click to enlarge)
Servicing the units entails replacing any worn or defective parts, most notably the tube plus calibration, but also batteries, wires and cables, latches, arm, etc. It can require reassembly of electrical, mechanical and electromechanical components to restore proper operation.
O'Mahoney noted the important distinction between rebuilding and refurbishing since rebuilding is essentially stripping the unit down to the bare frame. "Our business deals solely with the AMX portables by rebuilding and extending the life of these workhorses that are unparalleled in the industry. We don't just refurbish a unit, we rebuild a unit and that is what sets us apart from our competitors."
A Complex Service Market
Here is one technology where the service story is more complex than the manufacturing story. In addition to GE, other OEMs, most notably Philips, also service the GE portables. It is not uncommon for an OEM to have multivendor contracts with hospitals so that they are servicing other makers' units. But, where do they get the other guy's parts? That's where an independent service organization (ISO) comes in. The ISOs not only sell parts that they inventory for old and new machines, many also refurbish, rebuild, and upgrade equipment for the hospitals, the OEMs themselves, or for other companies. Many ISOs offer warranties and even satisfaction guarantees.
Marc Todd, owner of Longevity LLC, with some
refurbished portable X-ray and C-arm equipment
in his Brooklyn, NY, warehouse.
(Click to enlarge)
Some ISOs specialize in different areas so that the biomedical engineering department can outsource specific service needs, or tap third parties as needed to get the parts required to do many repairs themselves.
Tim Davis, president, STAT Medical X-Ray Tubes, Inc., Summerville, S.C. is proud to say, "We don't buy portable X-rays. We don't refurbish portable X-rays. We don't sell portable X-rays but we do one thing that is absolutely essential - we have in stock at all times X-ray tubes for all the most common portables." Davis says STAT Medical's motto, "We Tube You," helps make his company memorable.
Remesta Medical Corp., serving a radius of approximately 300 miles around Knoxville, Tenn., prides themselves on their refurbished systems. "We do a complete tear down, inspect every part, replace cabling, H.V. cables, and batteries. We repair or replace any defective parts, re-assemble, test and calibrate," said Michael Baumgartner, President. "We provide personalized, individual service with any special needs addressed such as special equipment functions and also special sales/lease/rental agreements."
Mudi Ramesh, Director of Business Development, Huestis Medical, Taunton, Mass., notes that about 50 percent of the X-rays taken at a hospital are on portable units, so these units play a crucial role in a hospital's operations.
"We are seeing an increasing trend in hospitals adopting the digital technology on their portable units. In fact, portable units are catching up quickly with their big brothers - fixed radiographic systems - in getting more dollars from the hospital budget for digital upgrades," Ramesh observed.
"Digital upgrades are a significant market opportunity for remanufacturers and refurbishers of diagnostic X-ray units as they do not need the blessing of the OEMs to carry out the upgrades. There are literally thousands of units in the field that are waiting to jump on the digital bandwagon," he added.
Canon leads the rest of the pack in digital upgrades with their portable amorphous silicon flat panel DR detector. This is ideally suited for the workflow with the portable units. Exposure repeats are a big issue with conventional units and this detector eliminates repeats. Images are sent to the hospital PACS system once the portable units are connected to a PACS port.
Ramesh also noted that "Siemens and some other manufacturers have announced portable CR X-ray units. These units have integrated CR readers that eliminate the need for the technologist to run to a stationary CR reader after every exposure."
Portables 101
The three configurations for portable X-ray machines are traditional film, CR and DR.
Film is the old standby approach that converts the x-ray beam to light that's captured on the film, requiring processing. CR, or computed radiography uses a plate inside a cassette. When the plate is irradiated, it changes the valance or charge. The technician takes the plate to a CR reader, which is a laser beam that scans it to release the image. Some units are selfpowered with batteries like the gold standard GE AMX IV(4). Others must be plugged in for use.
DR, for direct radiography, uses a rare earth element spread across an image receptor. Like a giant digital camera it captures the image directly and coverts it to a digital image right there at the detector. Canon is known for its DR portables but GE is coming out with one presently, the AMX V (5). DR units are heavier than CR and a bit harder for technicians to lug around.
Older equipment remains very popular and ISOs are known to stock parts while the OEMs may not for older units. "There seems to be a high demand for the older portables like the AMX 110 and the AMX III. I get requests for those all the time and they're after-life, according to GE...and the older units are cheaper," said Marc Todd, owner of Longevity LLC, Brooklyn, N.Y. The company provides used medical imaging equipment and parts to hospitals and other providers.
Hospitals often find buyers for their old equipment on DOTmed.com when they upgrade, or they buy used equipment to augment their portable fleet. Some charities buy the units since they take the place of a rad room in the medical mission hospitals.
Knowledgeable service providers stress that preventive maintenance should be performed every six months.
DOTmed Registered Portable X-rays Sales & Service Companies
Domestic
Rick Dubrey, ABC Dental Works Inc., NY
Steven Roberts, AccuRad Medical Imaging Services, OK
Danny Ikeler, Affordable X-ray Source, Inc., TX
Gus Antus, Ampro International Ltd , AZ
Miguel Chavira, Aplicacion de Sistemas Biomedicos, TX
Travis Nipper, Clinical Engineering Consultants, Inc., KY
Charles Collins, CRS Atlanta, Inc.,GA
Jonathan Shapiro, Greenwich Instrument Co Inc., CT
Mudi Ramesh, Huestis Medical, MA
Ralph Babcock, Imaging Affiliates, NC
Jim Loeffler, International Aid , MI
Joseph Jenkins, International Imaging Ltd., NV
Stephanie Espinola, JCF Engineering, Inc., CO
Lee Ann Bellis, Lee Ann Bellis, PA
Marc Todd, Longevity, LLC, NY
DOTmed Certified
Leon Gugel, Metropolis International, NY
DOTmed Certified/100
Maggie O'Mahoney, Mobile X-Ray Solutions, Inc., GA
DOTmed Certified
Michael Baumgartner, Remesta Medical Corp., TN
Doug Miller, Sierra X-Ray Services, NV
Tim Davis, STAT Medical X-Ray Tubes, Inc., SC
Hilada Duran, Three ls Medical Equipment, TX
Andy Hobbs, Ultra Imaging Inc., TX
James E Bowman Jr, US Medical Resources Corp, OH
Paul Kandel, Virginia Mason Medical Center, WA
Bernard Fainsztein, Western Medical Center, CA
International
Jorge Cld, Independent, Chile
Manuel Casanova, Servicio de Equipos Medicos , Chile
Abdelrahim Ibrahim, Besisc Inc., Egypt
R.S. Kanwar, Allengers Medical Systems Ltd., India
Alfredo Castanos, Comercializadora Mexicana de Equipos Medicos, Mexico
Jorge Luis Lopez, Alternative CT & X-Ray Service, Mexico
Hossam Eldin Zidan, Zahran, Saudi Arabia
Abdul Kader Dawalibi, E.M.E.C , Syria
Many cliches spring to mind to describe the role of portable X-ray devices in a hospital: You're only as strong as your weakest link. Or, how about: For the want of a nail the kingdom was lost.
These unheralded machines play an indispensable role in many critical care settings such the ER, so it's important to keep them in service at all times. The hospital's biomedical engineering department certainly has a lot of other high-tech priorities, including state-of-the-art technologies. It's easy to overlook the humble portable X-ray machine.
Philips' Practix Convenio portable X-ray
system, one of the many versatile portable
models on the market today.
(Click to enlarge)
"What we found is that the biomedical engineer typically has to take care of all the imaging equipment in the hospital. Although the portable is the tiniest piece of the puzzle that the biomedical engineer works on, it's also the biggest headache if it doesn't work because it's used in the critical situations," said Maggie O'Mahoney, Marketing and Sales Manager, Mobile X-Ray Solutions, Inc., Augusta, Ga. "When the tech goes to take it to the cardiac cath lab or the neonatal intensive care room or the operating room, it has to work."
The company rebuilds, upgrades, sells and rents GE AMX portables and parts and offers technical training and support. (The company is a spin-off of Benco, known for rebuilding the portables for GE.) The GE AMX line is the "Cadillac" portable X-ray units, although Toshiba and Siemens also manufacture the equipment.
"Our aim is to eliminate the down time with those units, eliminate maintenance issues. We have a commitment that we can in almost every case get a portable back up and running in 24 hours," O'Mahoney said.
A 1994 GE AMX-IV portable X-ray unit fully
refurbished by Metropolis International. All worn
out and damaged parts were replaced with original
OEM replacement parts before QA testing.
(Click to enlarge)
Servicing the units entails replacing any worn or defective parts, most notably the tube plus calibration, but also batteries, wires and cables, latches, arm, etc. It can require reassembly of electrical, mechanical and electromechanical components to restore proper operation.
O'Mahoney noted the important distinction between rebuilding and refurbishing since rebuilding is essentially stripping the unit down to the bare frame. "Our business deals solely with the AMX portables by rebuilding and extending the life of these workhorses that are unparalleled in the industry. We don't just refurbish a unit, we rebuild a unit and that is what sets us apart from our competitors."
A Complex Service Market
Here is one technology where the service story is more complex than the manufacturing story. In addition to GE, other OEMs, most notably Philips, also service the GE portables. It is not uncommon for an OEM to have multivendor contracts with hospitals so that they are servicing other makers' units. But, where do they get the other guy's parts? That's where an independent service organization (ISO) comes in. The ISOs not only sell parts that they inventory for old and new machines, many also refurbish, rebuild, and upgrade equipment for the hospitals, the OEMs themselves, or for other companies. Many ISOs offer warranties and even satisfaction guarantees.
Marc Todd, owner of Longevity LLC, with some
refurbished portable X-ray and C-arm equipment
in his Brooklyn, NY, warehouse.
(Click to enlarge)
Some ISOs specialize in different areas so that the biomedical engineering department can outsource specific service needs, or tap third parties as needed to get the parts required to do many repairs themselves.
Tim Davis, president, STAT Medical X-Ray Tubes, Inc., Summerville, S.C. is proud to say, "We don't buy portable X-rays. We don't refurbish portable X-rays. We don't sell portable X-rays but we do one thing that is absolutely essential - we have in stock at all times X-ray tubes for all the most common portables." Davis says STAT Medical's motto, "We Tube You," helps make his company memorable.
Remesta Medical Corp., serving a radius of approximately 300 miles around Knoxville, Tenn., prides themselves on their refurbished systems. "We do a complete tear down, inspect every part, replace cabling, H.V. cables, and batteries. We repair or replace any defective parts, re-assemble, test and calibrate," said Michael Baumgartner, President. "We provide personalized, individual service with any special needs addressed such as special equipment functions and also special sales/lease/rental agreements."
Mudi Ramesh, Director of Business Development, Huestis Medical, Taunton, Mass., notes that about 50 percent of the X-rays taken at a hospital are on portable units, so these units play a crucial role in a hospital's operations.
"We are seeing an increasing trend in hospitals adopting the digital technology on their portable units. In fact, portable units are catching up quickly with their big brothers - fixed radiographic systems - in getting more dollars from the hospital budget for digital upgrades," Ramesh observed.
"Digital upgrades are a significant market opportunity for remanufacturers and refurbishers of diagnostic X-ray units as they do not need the blessing of the OEMs to carry out the upgrades. There are literally thousands of units in the field that are waiting to jump on the digital bandwagon," he added.
Canon leads the rest of the pack in digital upgrades with their portable amorphous silicon flat panel DR detector. This is ideally suited for the workflow with the portable units. Exposure repeats are a big issue with conventional units and this detector eliminates repeats. Images are sent to the hospital PACS system once the portable units are connected to a PACS port.
Ramesh also noted that "Siemens and some other manufacturers have announced portable CR X-ray units. These units have integrated CR readers that eliminate the need for the technologist to run to a stationary CR reader after every exposure."
Portables 101
The three configurations for portable X-ray machines are traditional film, CR and DR.
Film is the old standby approach that converts the x-ray beam to light that's captured on the film, requiring processing. CR, or computed radiography uses a plate inside a cassette. When the plate is irradiated, it changes the valance or charge. The technician takes the plate to a CR reader, which is a laser beam that scans it to release the image. Some units are selfpowered with batteries like the gold standard GE AMX IV(4). Others must be plugged in for use.
DR, for direct radiography, uses a rare earth element spread across an image receptor. Like a giant digital camera it captures the image directly and coverts it to a digital image right there at the detector. Canon is known for its DR portables but GE is coming out with one presently, the AMX V (5). DR units are heavier than CR and a bit harder for technicians to lug around.
Older equipment remains very popular and ISOs are known to stock parts while the OEMs may not for older units. "There seems to be a high demand for the older portables like the AMX 110 and the AMX III. I get requests for those all the time and they're after-life, according to GE...and the older units are cheaper," said Marc Todd, owner of Longevity LLC, Brooklyn, N.Y. The company provides used medical imaging equipment and parts to hospitals and other providers.
Hospitals often find buyers for their old equipment on DOTmed.com when they upgrade, or they buy used equipment to augment their portable fleet. Some charities buy the units since they take the place of a rad room in the medical mission hospitals.
Knowledgeable service providers stress that preventive maintenance should be performed every six months.
DOTmed Registered Portable X-rays Sales & Service Companies
Domestic
Rick Dubrey, ABC Dental Works Inc., NY
Steven Roberts, AccuRad Medical Imaging Services, OK
Danny Ikeler, Affordable X-ray Source, Inc., TX
Gus Antus, Ampro International Ltd , AZ
Miguel Chavira, Aplicacion de Sistemas Biomedicos, TX
Travis Nipper, Clinical Engineering Consultants, Inc., KY
Charles Collins, CRS Atlanta, Inc.,GA
Jonathan Shapiro, Greenwich Instrument Co Inc., CT
Mudi Ramesh, Huestis Medical, MA
Ralph Babcock, Imaging Affiliates, NC
Jim Loeffler, International Aid , MI
Joseph Jenkins, International Imaging Ltd., NV
Stephanie Espinola, JCF Engineering, Inc., CO
Lee Ann Bellis, Lee Ann Bellis, PA
Marc Todd, Longevity, LLC, NY
DOTmed Certified
Leon Gugel, Metropolis International, NY
DOTmed Certified/100
Maggie O'Mahoney, Mobile X-Ray Solutions, Inc., GA
DOTmed Certified
Michael Baumgartner, Remesta Medical Corp., TN
Doug Miller, Sierra X-Ray Services, NV
Tim Davis, STAT Medical X-Ray Tubes, Inc., SC
Hilada Duran, Three ls Medical Equipment, TX
Andy Hobbs, Ultra Imaging Inc., TX
James E Bowman Jr, US Medical Resources Corp, OH
Paul Kandel, Virginia Mason Medical Center, WA
Bernard Fainsztein, Western Medical Center, CA
International
Jorge Cld, Independent, Chile
Manuel Casanova, Servicio de Equipos Medicos , Chile
Abdelrahim Ibrahim, Besisc Inc., Egypt
R.S. Kanwar, Allengers Medical Systems Ltd., India
Alfredo Castanos, Comercializadora Mexicana de Equipos Medicos, Mexico
Jorge Luis Lopez, Alternative CT & X-Ray Service, Mexico
Hossam Eldin Zidan, Zahran, Saudi Arabia
Abdul Kader Dawalibi, E.M.E.C , Syria