King of Medical Equipment

In its drive to become King of the Medical Equipment industry, Philips Healthcare Services has acquired six companies since its inception in 1998. So, has Philips arrived at the royal industry castle yet? Some believe so. In fact, prior to the last two acquisitions, Palo Alto’s “growth consulting” company Frost & Sullivan seemed to think so. In 2004 Frost & Sullivan announced they were awarding Philips five, count them, FIVE awards for “technology and services innovation and industry leadership”. Philips was recognized for making distinguished contributions to the cardiac resuscitation and medical imaging industries and for providing leadership in these market segments.

Was Frost & Sullivan just looking for a spot at the royal court or were these legitimate kudos? Probably the later. F&S conducted interviews with many market players along with their customers and suppliers, and reportedly did extensive research into the medical equipment technology field.

One of the five awards included the regent-like titles of “Medical Imaging Company of the Year”, “New Care Setting of the Year”, and “Medical Imaging Technology of the Year”. The other two were for Technology Leadership and Services Innovation Leadership.

The response of Jouko Karvinen, president and CEO of Philips Medical Systems, to the awards sounded like the equivalent of an industry coronation speech. He stated, "We proudly accept the Frost & Sullivan Awards as an independent validation of Philips business and technology leadership…. These five awards are further indicators that Philips continues to set the industry standard for developing innovative products that help treat patients and save lives.”

Royal Philips. Long live the King!

Philips Electronics’ Acquisition Frenzy

In 2001 was a watershed year as Philips shifted into high gear by bringing on two more companies and their product lines – Agilent and Marconi Medical. By procuring Agilent Technologies’ Healthcare Solutions Group of Massachusetts, Philips catapulted past GE Medical as the leader of the ultrasound sector. Philips absorbed Agilent’s expertise in the areas of diagnostic cardiology, automated defibrillators, patient monitoring, and point of care diagnostic systems.

Marconi Medical Systems of Ohio, formerly Picker International, was already a big player in its own right among major global CT suppliers. With Marconi, Philips gained cutting-edge multi-slice CT technology along with cardiology, oncology and PET/CT imaging applications. These two acquisitions in one year landed Philips in the top three for the entire medical equipment industry along with giants Siemens and GE Medical – some say as number two.

In 2005, the growth continued as Philips bought Stentor, Inc. of California, provider best-in-class picture archiving and communications systems (PACS). This move allowed Philips to help its clients successfully manage the voluminous amounts of imaging data created by its medical scanners. Then, the following year, the growth continued as Philips adopted Witt Biomedical Corporation, the largest independent supplier of Cath Lab monitoring and reporting systems.

In its drive to become King of the Medical Equipment industry, Philips Healthcare Services has acquired six companies since its inception in 1998. Each of the six has expanded Philips’ offerings to include a total of ten medical imaging modalities, from CT to MRI to x-ray, along with defibrillation and cardiac monitoring equipment as well as image and information management solutions.

Fathering a King

In 1998, Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands fathered the Philips Healthcare Services group and appears determined that the son will soon become King of the medical equipment industry. This move apparently came in response to GE Medical Systems’ announcement that it planned on becoming king itself of the ultrasound industry before the year 2000. Not to be “out-royaled”, Philips from the first year began acquisition frenzy in order to expand its subsidiary’s product portfolio well beyond its initial product line, which started in 1918 with medical x-ray tubes.

At the end of Philips Healthcare Services first year, Philips Electronics added digital ultrasound systems to PHS’s portfolio by acquiring ATL Ultrasound of Washington. Only two years later, in late 2000, Philips expanded into nuclear medicine by absorbing ADAC Laboratories of California. From this on, Philips Healthcare Services has been driven with its goal to become the King of the Medical Equipments.

Fe8 – Breakthrough for Medical Imaging

Florida State University researcher Naresh Dalal and other researchers have developed a magnetic molecule identified as “Fe8” which contains all of the preferred attributes. This single molecule magnet has eight ion bonds, is water-soluble and non-toxic.

Recently published papers describe testing completed on the molecule which shows that Fe8 provides good contract in non-clinical MRI studies over a specific range of concentrations, dispelling an earlier confusion about the value of Fe8 in medical imaging. The earlier research had resulted in conflicting results because the concentration of Fe8 had not been accounted for during testing.

These advances are due in part to advances in the field of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology involves working with particles that are one billionth of a meter thick. The techniques that are available to measure and manipulate such small particles of matter will support additional research on materials such as FE8. Researchers are hoping that these newer medical imaging contrast media will be able to be manipulated for even greater benefit than this initial research suggests. For example, researchers are seeking ways to “turn on” and “turn off” the medical imaging contrast qualities by synthesizing contrast media that binds only to certain other molecules or does so only when subject to specific conditions that can be monitored and managed.

Although this breakthrough in contrast media for medical imaging is extremely promising and may well provide a great leap forward in the quality of magnetic resonance imaging, there is still a great deal of testing and research to be accomplished before Fe8 can be made available for use in human population medical imaging studies.

Quest for MRI Contrast Material

Magnetic resonance imaging, one of the most important medical imaging advances in disease detection, relies on the injection of contrast material to highlight specific tissue or to distinguish between healthy and diseased tissue. The materials used in this medical imaging procedure tend to have the drawback of being either simply constructed and managed within the body but offering low contract or more complex in construction, offering sharper medical imaging contrast but with less stability when injected.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has been collaborating with researchers at Florida State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder to create new medical imaging contrast materials that are highly magnetic, highly uniform (and thereby easier to manage) and very small. This combination of attributes will work together to create a very safe, very predictable, highly effective contract solution for use in medical imaging.

Educational Requirements of a BMET

Historically, BMETs were on-the-job trained. However, as medical imaging equipment technology has advanced, so has the need for consistent, quality training. Today, most BMETs have earned an associate’s degree in medical imaging systems technology, electronics or an engineering-related field. A recent study by the Advancement of Medical imaging found that 62% of all BMETs went on to become voluntarily certified by the International Commission on Accreditation. ICC Certification for Biomedical Equipment Technicians (BMETs) is a formal recognition by the International Certification Commission for Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Technology (ICC) that individuals have demonstrated excellence in theoretical as well as practical knowledge of the principles of biomedical equipment technology.

However, the BMET continues to evolve and as it does, the educational requirements for working on medical imaging equipment have begun to increase as well. The BMET profession has begun to follow the path of many other professions both within and outside of the medical field where more and more education is required to obtain a job and/or advance within a job category. BMETs report that employers are beginning to require bachelor’s degrees for advancement to a supervisory level or in some cases to become employed as a BMET within some institutions. While this requirement may limit the job opportunities for some current BMETs, the good news is that with increased educational requirements comes the opportunity for higher salaries. Studies show that entrance salaries for BMETs range from $20,000-$30,000. However, senior and supervisory positions can command salaries as high as $80,000. The future appears bright for career growth in the area of medical imaging equipment maintenance and repair.

The Growing Demand for BMETs

Biomedical equipment technicians or BMETs represent a growing class of technically trained personnel whose primary responsibility is the maintenance and repair of medical imaging equipment such as x-ray, CT scanners, ultrasound, MRI, laser technology and so on. The career path for BMETs appears to be changing as rapidly as medical imaging equipment is changing.

First and foremost, the demand for BMETs is growing. This growth is fueled both by the growth in new medical imaging equipment and technologies that require BMET expertise and by the need for revenue by institutions that own medical imaging equipment. As institutions such as hospitals recognize that downtime on an important piece of medical imaging equipment affects revenue generation, there is pressure to add BMETs to hospital staff to assure that all medical imaging equipment is maintained in good order and that expensive service contracts are used as minimally as possible. The U.S. Department of Labor and the Association for the Advancement of Medical imaging predict that the number of BMET jobs in the US will increase 24% to 31% through the year 2010.

Laser X - New X-Ray Technology

Up until recently, the power source required to generate the appropriate strength laser beam for this application would be so enormous that it has been impractical to couple the use of lasers with X-Rays. However, researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder have developed a method to generate strong laser beams from a “table top” size power source, effectively making laser X-Ray technology a practical reality.

The research team used a laser beam to release atoms from argon, a highly stable chemical element. The resulting emission of X-Rays was too weak to be useful. The team then hurled the atoms back into the argon, causing a larger, more consistent stream of X-Rays of sufficient size to be useful to be emitted. This “boomerang” technique is now being manipulated to generate a highly regular, very strong source of X-Rays, coupled with laser beams.

The technique is not yet ready for application in the clinical setting. Further research is necessary to extend the technique into the hard X-Ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Once that task has been accomplished, the commercial laser X-Ray will follow.

Recent Radiography Breakthrough

Although the X-Ray or radiograph has long been a fundamental medical imaging tool, this approach has always had the drawback that the images produced are indistinct, requiring extremely careful analysis and interpretation. Scientists have long searched for a way to enhance the quality of radiographic images.

Recent breakthroughs in the development of laser X-Ray capability have the potential to completely change the quality of radiographic images. The light generated by a laser source would be bright enough to create strong, distinct contrasts on radiographic images. Moreover, coupling the candlepower of a laser beam with X-Ray could improve resolution by a factor of about one thousand. Medical systems at this level of resolution could provide the technology to detect cancers and other abnormalities that cannot now be detected with current X-Ray technology.

Brief History of The X-Ray Imaging Equipment

X-Rays have been available for use as medical imaging equipment since around 1895 when Wilhelm Roentgen discovered that he could create images of internal body structures such as bones and some tissues by passing electromagnetic waves through the body. He labeled the phenomenon “X” because he did not initially understand the composition of the “rays”. Since that time, X-Rays have been the foundation upon which medical imaging technology and medical imaging equipment have been built.