As the imaging marketplace considers the move toward more cost efficient delivery of high-quality imaging, understanding and comparing where the two major imaging market segments stand, relative to the cost of delivery, has bearing on both profitability and accountability.

Introduction: This second installment of the Imaging Market File quantifies the cost variance between hospitals and freestanding centers by comparing four major direct-expense lines in imaging operations: staff benefits and costs, supply costs, depreciation, and other direct costs. This by no means represents the total cost of operating imaging services. This analysis does not include indirect costs, such as facility costs, administrative costs, and imaging IT hardware and software. These results (Figures 1–4) represent a total of 55 unique locations (33 hospitals and 22 imaging centers), more than 2.3 million exams, and nearly $1 billion in revenue during 2009 and 2010.

Staff and benefits cost: For hospital calculations, staff and benefits costs generally include clinical personnel related to delivering imaging services (technologists, nurses, and technologist aides). Administrative personnel and physicians have not been included in the data, as they are typically allocated as overhead expenses that cannot be attached to any one service line or modality.

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