19th April, 2006

STANDARDS AND ACCREDITATION STUDY 
SUBMISSION

RADIOLOGY ACCREDITATION

Pennant Hills Diagnostic Centre was the first private radiology practice in Australia to achieve Stage 3 (full ISO accreditation), two hospitals achieved this prior.  Pennant Hills Diagnostic Centre is a fully comprehensive practice encompassing the modalities of x-ray, ultrasound, C.T., DEXA, mammography and MRI.  Nuclear medicine was previously performed at this site but has recently been discontinued because of rising costs.

To date the implementation of x-ray accreditation by other facilities has been pitiful – not meeting objectives.

This can be attributed to the following:-

•	The high costs in achieving this (see attachment 1 for costs of implementing this at PHDC).  This include manpower hours.

•	The costs of actual accreditation (see attachment 2)

•	The ongoing costs to continue membership - NATA (see attachment 3)

•	The actual competition disadvantage that this puts on accredited practice under, because of costly and time consuming protocols required by accredited practices.  

•	The inability to recoup costs of accreditation because of Radiology capped budget and the public perception that medicine “is free”, thereby preventing addition of added charge for quality service.

•	The captive markets that the corporate radiology practices control.

•	The lack of an international market.

•	The inability, because of radiology’s unique nature, to increase productivity further.  All examinations need to be channelled through the radiologist.  

•	The radiologist’s capacity to do accurate reporting/studies is finite.

•	Inability to obtain insurance at a lower premium despite NATA Accreditation (as claimed by NATA).

•	The reluctance to allow further control of severely government controlled industry to continue further.

SOLUTION:

Practices which do achieve accreditation need to be rewarded to allow recoup of costs and increased profitability.  

This should include practice grants, increased medicare benefits, NATA membership on a sliding scale i.e. decrease in membership costs for each year of membership.

	

DR. LOUIS SHULMAN

19/4/2006

Attachment 1

	Palam Holdings Pty Limited
	atf The Shulman Family Trust t/a
	Pennant Hills Diagnostic Centre

Accreditation

Estimated by our Business Manager that some 2,800 hours have been incurred over the past number of years for accreditation purposes

Approximate labour costs for these hours			 $     165,163 

This figure does not include ancillary costs such as stationery and equipment that were required for the accreditation

Attachment 2	Palam Holdings Pty Limited	
		atf The Shulman Family Trust t/a	
		Pennant Hills Diagnostic Centre	
..
Accreditation

Date	Memo	Ex GST  

15-Dec-04	National Association of Testing Authorities Austra	$1,636.36 	Accreditation Application
15-Dec-04	The Royal Aus & NZ College of	$140.00 	Review of Practice Quality Manuel
08-Feb-05	National Association of Testing Authorities Austra	$240.00 	Review of Practice Quality Manuel
03-Jun-05	National Association of Testing Authorities Austra	$6,666.30 	Initial Assessment 12/4/05
07-Jun-05	National Association of Testing Authorities Austra	$2,528.96 	Travel, Accom. Expenses initial assessment 12/4/05
		_________
	Initial Assessment Stage 3 Costs	$11,211.62 

20-Sep-05	Medical Imaging Accredited Consultancy	  $550.00 	Mammography Accreditation
16-Dec-05	The Royal Aust & NZ College of	  $420.00 	Nuclear Translucency Audit May 2004 to May 2005
		  _______
	Other Accreditation Requirements	  $970.00	
		 ________
	Total 	$12,181.62	

Attachment 3
	Palam Holdings Pty Limited	
	atf The Shulman Family Trust t/a	
	Pennant Hills DiagnosticCentre	

Accreditation

Date	Memo	Ex GST

31-Aug-05	National Association of Testing Authorities Austra	$7,878.34   Annual Membership