Uncategorized

Security Ownership | New GE Boss | More Philips M&A

June 14, 2018 Jake Fishman 6 min read

“These folks don’t have medical licenses to lose; they didn’t take any Hippocratic oaths. They are in it for the profit. And Americans are going to pay for it, either with their health or their finances or both.”

– Association of Independent Doctors executive director, Marni Jameson Carey, clearly stating the trade association’s position on the trend of private equity firms and VCs buying private practices (they don’t like it).

 

The Imaging Wire

The Great Security Accountability Debate
Healthcare manufacturers and providers staked their positions in an emerging battle over the the cybersecurity of legacy devices. Although responsibility for the installed base is a long-debated issue, things have heated up since April when the US House Energy & Commerce Committee issued a Request for Information (RFI) regarding healthcare technology and device security. MITA appeared to take a collaborative tone, stating that manufacturers, health delivery organizations, and third-party servicers should share the responsibility for protecting against cyberattacks, but its primary argument was that healthcare organizations should use the info and solutions provided to them to ensure security. As you may expect, the American Hospital Association believes that device manufacturers should carry more of the cybersecurity burden, adding that the current structure places too much responsibilities on hospitals. This type of debate doesn’t happen between manufacturers and end-customers in most industries, but it’s a dispute that could shape how devices are serviced in the future and dictate who is responsible when serious/expensive/dangerous security issues arise.

 

GE Imaging’s New Boss
GE Healthcare named Tom McGuinness as president and CEO of its imaging business, replacing Karim Karti after only 2.5 years in the role. Karti appears to have left the company. McGuinness’ rise within GE has been rapid, as he joined the company as GE Healthcare’s chief strategy and commercial officer less than two years ago. However, McGuinness brings 20-plus years of healthcare leadership experience (PatientPoint, Medtronic, McKinsey Healthcare) and could bring new ideas to a company known for its homegrown leadership.

 

Fujifilm and Availity Partner Up
Fujifilm USA announced a partnership with large payer and provider engagement network, Availity. The partnership adds Availity Authorizations (digital authorization platform) and Availity Patient Access (collection cycle automation) to Fujifilm’s Synapse radiology information system (RIS), allowing the company to offer a solution that integrates PACS, RIS, billing, and physician and patient portals. Fujifilm appears to be Availity’s first major medical imaging partner, joining PACS provider RamSoft along with dozens of other partner companies.

 

Philips Continues M&A Spree
Philips continued its recent healthcare M&A buying spree with the acquisition of Remote Diagnostic Technologies (RDT), a UK-based developer of pre-hospital monitoring, cardiac therapy, and data management solutions. The acquisition is Philips Healthcare’s’ third of 2018, all of which took place in the last two months. RDT’s products will bolster Philips’ Therapeutic Care business and boost its position in the €1.4 billion ($1.64B) resuscitation and emergency care market. Noting RDT’s relatively small size (100 employees), this acquisition is another example of Philips’ bolt-on acquisition strategy at work, adding smaller, specialized companies to help fill-out its existing portfolio, while avoiding the costs and headaches of larger acquisitions.

 

Turkey Gets Tough with Philips
Philips Healthcare and its local affiliate company in Turkey are under investigation from the country’s Competition Authority for the possible violation of patent licensing laws. This investigation comes 18 months after Philips Turkey was charged and cleared by the country for “abuse of dominance” and follows a recent rule that all medical imaging devices used in Turkey must be made in the country.

 

The Wire

  • Chinese scientists developed a specialized MRI coil that reportedly captures clearer fetal images, compared to standard abdominal MRI coils, revealing that the technology was already adopted by a Chinese medical imaging company and is expected to launch commercially by the end of 2018.
  • MILabs launched a new line of “high-performance and economical” preclinical PET, SPECT, and CT systems, which are scaled-down versions of the company’s established VECTor systems, and are intended for researchers looking for budget-oriented systems that can be upgraded in the future.
  • A new study suggests that medical imaging AI systems are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks, revealing that adversarial examples can trick deep learning systems into misclassifying nearly all images, and claiming that medical AI firms have yet to develop secure infrastructure.
  • Optovue announced the FDA 510(k) clearance of its AngioAnalytics optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) blood vessel measurement technology and the 510(k) clearance of its 3D PAR three-dimensional projection artifact removal software, used for OCTA measurement and interpretation.
  • A University of California study, funded by MedCrypt, revealed that healthcare organizations and vendors believe that between 100 and 1,000 patients were harmed by hacked devices, suggesting that this issue will continue and perhaps worsen due to both device and infrastructure vulnerabilities.
  • A recent study found that increasing display luminance when reading mammograms may allow the use of lower-dose mammography, without sacrificing image quality and diagnostic accuracy, specifically citing the SpotView feature in Barco’s Coronis Uniti monitors as a viable display solution.

 

The Resource Wire

– Future home of sponsored content.  Maybe yours.

 

 

You might also like

Imaging Service November 21, 2024

Non-Physicians Are Reading More Medical Images November 21, 2024

Non-physician practitioners are reading more medical images in U.S. medical offices. That’s according to a new study in JACR by researchers who found that the share of images interpreted by NPPs has doubled in the last 10 years.  In the U.S., radiologists consider themselves to be the primary interpreters of medical images, but inroads have […]

Imaging Policy November 18, 2024

Will Congress Stop Medicare Cuts? November 18, 2024

Radiologists find themselves once again in a familiar position, facing CMS cuts in Medicare and Medicaid physician payments for 2025. A new analysis by revenue cycle management company Healthcare Administrative Partners details the impact of the reductions, as well as other reimbursement changes set to take effect next year.  CMS has been driving down radiology […]

Radiologists November 14, 2024

Radiologist Salaries Lag Inflation November 14, 2024

A new study in JACR confirms what many radiologists have suspected: salary growth for private-practice radiologists has lagged inflation over the last 10 years. While there were a few bright spots, the study mostly shows that radiologists are working harder for less pay.  Radiology has long been one of the better-compensated medical specialties, often landing […]

You might also like..

Select All

You're signed up!

It's great to have you as a reader. Check your inbox for a welcome email.

-- The Imaging Wire team

You're all set!