At Animal Insides we often find it valuable for the entire veterinary team to understand the costs associated with running a veterinary practice. Digital radiography is no different.
Veterinary technicians must understand that although there is little incremental cost with obtaining an additional digital radiographic exposure, owning a veterinary digital radiography system is not free for your veterinarian. The following will describe some of the up front and ongoing costs associated with digital radiography so you can get a better understanding of why your veterinarian gets upset when associates and technical staff either obtain digital images without charging for them (intentionally or unintentionally) or failing to maintain the digital radiography system in proper working order.
Buying digital is not free: If it were not for the huge benefits that many veterinary practices see from digital radiography, nobody would be purchasing these systems because they are expensive no matter how you cut it. Given the expense, which ranges from about $45,000 for a CR machine to $75,000 for a DR machine (this is in additional to the $20,000 for the x-ray machine), purchasing a digital radiography system is not a decision that any veterinarian takes lightly. This cost must be justified by practicing better medicine or increasing the efficiency in the hospital because of the addition of the digital radiography system.
Owning a digital system is not free: after the initial sticker shock of a digital radiography system wears off, veterinarians find themselves confronted with a litany of ongoing costs. These costs include maintenance contracts (up to $6000/year for DR systems), replacing computers, software upgrades, new monitors, ongoing costs with archiving images, etc. In all cases, ownership of a digital radiography system will cost at least a few thousand dollars a year and upwards of $6-10,000/year for larger veterinary practice
…and then you get to do it all over again: Traditional x-ray machines lasted for 20-30 years. Digital radiography systems don’t. Digital radiography systems are more like computers or cell phones with an expected life span of 5-7 years. Stated another way, your veterinarian might need to be replacing the digital radiography machine in 5-7 years.
The bottom line with all of this is that owning a digital radiography system is not free. Veterinary technicians are advised to do everything that they can to properly maintain the digital radiography system such as turning off the machine at night, keeping hair out of the computers, etc. Technicians should also remember that they are part of the team responsible to make the veterinary practice successful and profitable. Forgetting to charge for radiographs or failing to charge for radiographs because it seems that there is no cost associated with obtaining digital images is irresponsible and damaging to the practice.
Now you know that each time the button is pressed on a digital radiography system there is, in many cases, MORE cost associated when compared to traditional film radiography.