Deciding whether or not to open a screening center for outpatient mammography involves the evaluation of many factors. The key variables that would influence your bottom line would include, but is not limited to the following:

• The volume of cases that will be performed
• The purchase price of the mammography system (film or digital)
• The procedure type (screening vs. diagnostic)
• The payer mix i.e.: Medicare, BC/BS, HMO etc.
• Reimbursement rates for your area
• CAD integration

Digital imaging systems require a considerable investment, but offer a higher reimbursement rate per mammogram. Medicare reimbursement for a digital screening examination is approximately $50 higher than that of a film based mammogram. The national Medicare global payment amount for a digital screening mammogram is approximately $135. Assuming you perform 20 digital screenings per day, 240 days per year, the reimbursement will be approximately $648,000 in annual revenue.

Computer Aided Detection (CAD), an invaluable tool, automatically identifies and highlights the characteristics commonly associated with breast cancer and reimbursement averages $20 per study. Performing the same 20 digital screenings per day, 240 days per year would yield approximately $96,000 in annual incremental revenue.

The facts and figures I present to you here have not taken into account variable items such as material, personnel and facilities costs. We can estimate the break-even point at seven digital screening mammograms per day using digital CAD.