West Physics Consulting Announces Radiation Dose Reduction Services For CT, Fluoroscopy And Other Modalities

ATLANTA, Aug. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- West Physics Consulting, the leading national provider of medical and health physics consulting and testing services, announced today that it has begun offering CT dose reduction, fluoroscopy dose reduction and related services to medical imaging facilities throughout the United States.

Recent radiation dose incidents, newly published scientific studies, and growing public and media attention have made minimizing unnecessary radiation dose to patients a priority for medical imaging facilities.  In addition, state regulatory agencies and accrediting bodies are increasing their oversight and regulation of radiation dose, making compliance even more important for providers.  Reducing radiation doses to patients while maintaining good clinical image quality, however, is a complex challenge requiring significant expertise and a comprehensive approach.  "Facilities are now being presented with a host of options from various vendors – dose tracking and analysis software, scanner hardware upgrades, technologist training, protocol optimization, and more," states Dr. Geoffrey West, President and Chief Medical Physicist of West Physics Consulting.  "Unfortunately, until now there has been no independent company that a medical imaging department or facility could go to with substantial radiation dose expertise, that would offer a simple and effective service to guide facilities through this complex landscape, ensuring that their money is well-spent and their resources are directed intelligently.  The radiation dose auditing and consultation services we have developed will: 1) assess the radiation doses a facility is starting with in each modality, 2) identify where improvements need to be made, 3) go ahead and make the most urgent and cost-effective improvements immediately with protocol optimization and enhanced staff training to reduce doses considerably, 4) quantify those improvements so the facility can inform patients, staff and referring physicians about their success, and 5) objectively evaluate how further available software and hardware upgrades would help lower doses even more." 

Dr. West continues by stating that, "facilities are finding that just buying new hardware or software solutions for dose reduction is not a panacea.  Hardware and software need to be properly integrated into a larger dose minimization program, and the information they produce needs to be properly managed and acted upon to get the full value out of it.  Finally, at the end of the day, facilities want to know they meet all relevant regulatory requirements, Joint Commission standards, ACR guidelines, Image Gently and Image Wisely recommendations, and any other applicable best practices.  That requires a third-party audit and certification process.  These new services are designed to provide that certainty and give the facility and their patients peace of mind that the right training, protocols, processes, software and hardware are in place to minimize radiation doses."

Among the new slate of services is a CT Dose Audit Service, which focuses on providing those medical facilities that perform CT (computed tomography) with a comprehensive solution for their radiation dose management and reduction.  Facilities in California can also elect an SB1237 Compliance Audit that will ensure that their facility meets the recently enacted state regulatory requirements regarding CT dose reporting and assessment.  In addition to CT, West Physics' dose reduction and audit services cover interventional fluoroscopy, with a full training and dose tracking solution available for interventional fluoroscopy sites.  Finally, facilities wishing to have all of their x-ray and nuclear medicine modalities reviewed, including radiography, mammography, positron emission tomography (PET), etc. can wrap all of these modalities into a complete facility audit package that addresses the dose reduction needs of every department in a cohesive and simple fashion.

More information about West Physics Consulting's CT Dose Audit Services can be found at http://www.westphysics.com/service-types/ct-radiation-dose/ and information regarding the California SB1237 Audit Service can be found at http://www.westphysics.com/service-types/attention-california-ct-operators/

Facilities interested in fluoroscopy or other modality dose reduction and auditing services should contact West Physics Consulting directly.

About West Physics Consulting:

West Physics Consulting is a national provider of medical and health physics consulting and testing services. It is committed to technical and service quality and has grown from serving a single local client in 2002 to now serving more than 1,000 clients in 49 U.S. states, federal territories, the Caribbean and Latin America. West Physics' staff specializes in complex regulatory challenges and diagnostic imaging problems and their diverse backgrounds and top-notch training result in superior technical and regulatory capabilities. The firm is recognized for providing local-style response times and customer service in combination with national expertise and consistency.  For more information, please visit www.westphysics.com.

SOURCE West Physics Consulting