How cardiac computed tomography angiography and positron emission tomography play complementary roles in a Practice's business model.

Abstract

Cardiovascular imaging is fundamental and crucial for providing accurate diagnosis and guiding treatment. There are unique clinical benefits and uses of Cardiac CT as well as cardiac PET. There have been advances in cardiac PET as well as Cardiac CT which have led to novel applications. These novel applications also expand clinical practice and increase downstream referrals, testing and procedures which therefore increases business revenue. Cardiac CT adoption in practice expands business by incrementally increased use in a larger patient population. Cardiac CT does not decrease utility of other imaging modalities but ensures more appropriate use of other imaging modalities. There are upfront costs that need to be considered when adopting cardiac CT or cardiac PET. Although the upfront costs for both modalities are high and the Medicare reimbursement of cardiac CT relative to cardiac PET is lower, the ability to perform five times more cardiac CT studies per day compared with cardiac PET studies offsets the decreased reimbursement for cardiac CT. Additionally, there is a good return on investment for cardiac CT especially resulting from increased downstream testing and referrals for procedures and cardiology clinic follow up and from more efficient use of cardiac catheterization lab resources. Cardiac PET also allows for more targeted revascularization in multivessel CAD. Adopting both modalities improves patient outcomes, streamlines care, and increases downstream revenue.