Retired Hospital Board Member Rick Clement (left) receives a token of the board’s appreciation from President Dr. Mike Gross. Seated is Clement’s replacement on the board, Dan Jurgens, a retired registered nurse from the U.S. Army.
The current CT machine performs a single-slice scan offering less detail for radiologists to locate injuries and disease within the body through a procedure colloquially known as a “cat scan.”
Hospital CEO Lisa Coleman presented the recommendation to the monthly board meeting last Thursday for a 44-month lease of the equipment at a cost not to exceed $10,855 with a monthly service cost not to exceed $7,817. She added that the hospital would request options of a lease renewal or buying of the machine at the fulfillment of the lease period.
Coleman said that a CT machine had an anticipated useful service life of five years on the average, but anticipated a bit longer as the scanner would endure slightly less-than-average use.
Philips Medical Systems submitted a proposal for a scanner. CT Sales Specialist Gavin Moravek said that hospitals upgrading to a 16-slice scanner enjoyed an average of 25 percent greater volume due to quicker preparation time and a wider array of procedure capability in the new systems.
QHR Hospital Management Representative Herb Winters anticipated that a smaller hospital could anticipate approximately 20 percent more volume and accompanying revenue.
Board Member Don Leibee asked if a pro forma accounting had been prepared to show what the hospital would need in terms of volume to make the new scanner profitable.
Winters said that the document had not been prepared. “Twenty percent is the big assumption, but we need to know at what point we would break even.”
For the rest of this story, read this week's Cadiz Record.
