Many veterinarians purchase digital radiography machines without a full understanding of the costs associated with ownership of these systems. This becomes a big problem if you are already stretching to afford your digital radiography system.  Plan ahead and think about these sources of future costs:

Service contract: Your toaster oven will break. Your car will break. Your digital radiography system will break. Some break more than others. The costs of film, processing chemicals, and the processor guy are replaced with costs for a yearly service contract. Service contracts can be expected to be 5-10% of the purchase price. Some systems come with a “honeymoon period” where the system is supported for free.  After that, you pay. Be absolutely certain you understand what is covered in your service contract. Most are not all encompassing. For example, some include labor costs. Some don’t.  Some include future software upgrades. Some don’t. In fact, very few do.

Computer crashes: With film all you had to worry about was a light box. With digital radiography you will need a computer to view the images. The average computer life seems to be about 3 years. Computers are not very expensive but you will have to load your viewing software onto these computers. Without a service contract that includes this service you could be looking at an expensive service call just to get you back up and running. What happens if you install a new operating system and you need a software upgrade to make your viewing software run on the new computer?  You might get charged for a service call and a software upgrade to build compatibility with the new operating system.  This is not a fantasy situation. We are seeing this scenario as computers are transitioning from Windows XP to Vista.

Software upgrades: 5 years ago there was no Youtube. Cloud computing was not yet reality. There was no Itunes. We have absolutely no idea what we will be doing with our computers in a few years but it can be said with certainty things will look different than they do today. Times change and your vendor has to keep up with the times. In most cases, you will be paying for their longevity through software upgrades. Although it might seem counterintuitive, if you are paying for software upgrades, you should be happy. Software upgrades mean that your vendor is supporting  you and is still in business. Without software upgrades you will be looking for a new vendor and instead of software upgrades you will be paying to migrate your data to a new system.  Software upgrades are likely not covered in your service contract.

Bigger computers: If your computer does not crash it is a good bet that eventually you will fill up your hard drive with your digital images. This process is accelerated if you store ultrasound images with your digital radiographic images. Ultrasound video clips will eat up memory like Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi eats hot dogs. Once a computer drive fills up it starts to slow down.  Many veterinarians find that they underestimate their storage needs and the servers sold to veterinary practices are not easily expandable. Purchasing more storage and migrating your data to a new computer will cost you. This service is generally not included in your service contract.

Backing up data: it is absolutely essential that you backup your data. Whether this is done on site or off site, backing up data is not generally included in your service contract. If it is, there is usually an additional cost. This topic has been covered before.

Connecting other machines to your digital radiography system: Integrating your digital radiography machine, practice management software, ultrasound machine, dental radiography machine, etc. is one of the benefits of going digital. This integration is generally not free. Some vendors charge upwards of $1500 for this service. In our opinion, they should. It can be a headache to integrate some systems because of poor DICOM implementations and proprietary practice management systems. For your best bet at integration, chose products that have been validated in the Veterinary DICOM validation.

IT support: Your digital radiography vendor is not your IT consultant. They are not able to adequately troubleshoot your hospital network. Without a hospital network, you will not be able to distribute images around your hospital. Do yourself a favor - hire an IT consultant. There are a number of services that operate remotely. You will be glad you did.  When your hospital network goes down (it will) that is not the time to hire someone to figure things out. As can be expected, IT support is not free.  If you still don’t get the gist of this paragraph – A GOOD IT PERSON IS WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD. Sorry about the caps. Im done now.

In conclusion, the purchase price of your digital radiography system is just the start. Maintaining a digital radiography is not free. Please budget for additional expenses after you purchase your machine.