Digital vs conventional radiography: cost and revenue analysis

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyse and compare the operating and investment costs of two radiographic systems, a conventional and a digital one, and to evaluate the cost/revenue ratio of the two systems. The radiological activity over 1 year for chest and skeletal exams was evaluated: 13,401 chest and 7,124 skeletal exams were considered. The following parameters of variable costs were evaluated: the difference between variable proportional costs of the two technologies, the effective variable cost of any size film, including the chemicals, and for different sizes of digital film, variable costs of chest plus skeletal exams performed with the two techniques. Afterwards the economical effect was considered taking into account depreciation during a time of utilization ranging between 8 and 4 years. In the second part of the analysis the total cost and the revenues of the two technologies were determined. The comparison between the digital and conventional systems has shown the following aspects: 1. Digital radiography system has a much higher investment cost in comparison with the conventional one. 2. Operating costs of digital equipment are higher or lower depending on the film size used. Evaluating chest X-ray we reach a breakeven point after 1 year and 10,000 exams only if displayed over 8 x 10-in. film and after 30,000 if displayed over a 11 x 14-in. film. 3. The total cost (variable cost, technology cost, labour cost) of digital technology is lower than that of the conventional system by 20 % on average using 8 x 10-in. film size. 4. Digital technology also allows lesser film waste and lesser film per exam

Conventional and digital radiography in vertical root fracture diagnosis: a comparison study

“…Direct digital imaging systems are popular in medical occupations because of their convenience, but many investigations showed that their image resolution is lesser than film‐based radiography (1–4). Some investigators reported little or no significant differences between direct digital (DDR) and conventional radiography (CR) in caries and periapical lesions detection and bone loss estimation (5–9) while in some other reports the differences were obvious (9–16).…”

Comparison of Conventional Radiography and Digital Computerized Radiography in Patients Presenting to Emergency Department

“…In these studies, parameters such as examination time for digital radiography, manipulation of data at the post-examination period, graphic quality, and number of hourly examinations were investigated. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 …”

“…One study has reported that the cost of the setup of Digital CR is higher than conventional radiography, whereas cost per radiogram is lower with the former. [15] …”

Efisiensi Dalam Instalasi Radiologi RS X: Studi Kasus dengan Data Envelopment Analysis

“…Pengurangan jumlah film menjadi faktor terbesar dalam mengurangi biaya. Faktor lain berupa berkurangnya pengulangan pemeriksaan yang harus dilakukan, kualitas gambar yang lebih baik, penghematan waktu yang dibutuhkan petugas dalam memproses gambar, dan kemudahan dalam pengarsipan hasil radiografi (Dalla Palma et al, 1999). Potensi meningkatkan efisiensi layanan untuk memangkas sekitar setengah dari besaran biaya total perlu ditelusuri oleh penyedia layanan kesehatan, terutama pada bagian radiologi yang tersebar di banyak fasilitas layanan kesehatan seluruh Indonesia.…”