Health-Scan sees market for full-body CT exams
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Peter Neurath Staff Writer
Bellevue-based Health-Scan Inc. has joined the growing number of ventures catering to an emerging market - people willing to pay for expensive care not covered by ordinary health insurance.
Based on successful models in California and Arizona, Health-Scan is the first Northwest company to market partial and full-body CT scans, which can uncover early signs of heart disease, cancer and other maladies.
It probably won't be the last.
AmeriScan, a Scottsdale, Ariz., body-scanning company, says it soon will open an office in Seattle.
"I understand there's going to be several more centers coming into Washington," said Kathy Szeto, business manager for Western Radiology Associates, the Seattle group that will interpret the scans done at Health-Scan.
Body-scan patients need no referrals from physicians. People pay cash for CT scans as a preventive measure.
A CT (computed tomography) scan is a diagnostic test combining the use of X-rays with computer technology. Images are assembled into a three-dimensional picture that can display organs, bones and tissues in great detail.
Health-Scan is capitalizing on a growing market for first-class health care for those who can afford it. The company and others like it may cash in on aging baby boomers who want to spot disease in its early stage.
Said AmeriScan founder Dr. Craig Bittner, "While we excel in the treatment of disease once people become sick, my goal is to change our focus to early detection and disease prevention."
People of means already buy plastic surgery and laser eye surgery for which insurance does not pay. And some local residents now are paying thousands of dollars a year for immediate access to doctors through premium services offered by MD2 and the Lewis and John Dare Center.
Health-Scan charges far less than that, but it's images don't come cheap.
For $900, Health-Scan owner and CEO Dr. Thomas Giannulli will oversee a full-body scan of chest, abdomen and pelvis by using computed tomography. The idea is to detect cancer, aortic aneurysms, liver disease, osteoporosis and kidney disease.
"Early detection of serious health problems is essential to improving a patient's health and longevity," Giannulli said. "For example, we can detect traces of calcification in coronary arteries, the earliest indicator of heart disease, even in patients who feel perfectly healthy."
Health-Scan also does chest scans for $500 and virtual colonoscopies for $900.
According to Health-Scan, the procedures are simple, safe and typically take less than five minutes. The images are available immediately after the scans. They're interpreted by radiologists, and then sent to the patients' physicians for follow-up within 48 hours.
Bellingham resident James Lyons, 70, responded to an AmeriScan ad for body scanning while wintering in Scottsdale.
The $900 full-body scan that Lyons underwent detected a large aneurysm. He immediately underwent open-heart surgery.
"My doctor told me that if it burst, I had just a 5 percent chance of living, but with surgery I'd have a 95 percent chance," he said.
Some physicians entertain doubts about body-scan shops, however. CT scanning can be a valuable diagnostic tool, said Dr. Gary Oppenheim, the cardiologist who directs Swedish Medical Center's electron-beam tomography program.
But there's not a lot of data yet on full-body scanning, he added. It could lead to unnecessary care and needless expense if body-scans yield false indicators of disease, Oppenheim said.
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