CT scan truck ownership

[onconc]

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Anyone did any research on the business aspects of owning a mobile CT scan truck ?

There is one leased by my employer. Just based on basic google searches, these sell for between $500k and $1.5M and generate several hundred thousand in annual revenue. Costs to operate will include the technician salaries, equipment ownership fees etc.

These mobile units seem to be mostly operated by local / national chains.

Any physicians own these ?

Again based on basic google search, physician ownership of these doesn't violate the Stark law. Since it falls under "in-office ancillary services"

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

I wouldn’t want to be an independent doc and have any asset that depends on the local hospital giving me a contract. They already want to put me out of business so they can employ me.

I’m happy to own my own MRI PET CT scanner in the office though

 

[onconc]

I am not an independent doc. I am employed by the same hospital that is leasing the truck. I may also have some influence over what truck to give the hospital lease to. I mean let's say the hospital is submitted bids by both me and the national truck owner chain. I may have some influence over the bidding process.

I’m happy to own my own MRI PET CT scanner in the office though

Could you please elaborate?

 

[gutonc]

I am not an independent doc. I am employed by the same hospital that is leasing the truck. I may also have some influence over what truck to give the hospital lease to. I mean let's say the hospital is submitted bids by both me and the national truck owner chain. I may have some influence over the bidding process.

I suspect this might fall afoul of the Stark law as that's clearly self-dealing.

Of course, laws these days have very little meaning so maybe get while the getting's good.

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

I am not an independent doc. I am employed by the same hospital that is leasing the truck. I may also have some influence over what truck to give the hospital lease to. I mean let's say the hospital is submitted bids by both me and the national truck owner chain. I may have some influence over the bidding process.

Could you please elaborate?

Plenty of PP groups own their own imaging equipment (as do hospitals)

I personally would not want to be in a position where the hospital could strong arm me using the contract they have with my imaging truck. I already don’t like them strong arming me with priveledges, call coverage, etc.

I agree with GutOnc re: stark as well. Even if it didn’t violate stark, does the hospital really save enough money going through you for it to be worth the potential headache?

 

[gutonc]

Plenty of PP groups own their own imaging equipment (as do hospitals)

I personally would not want to be in a position where the hospital could strong arm me using the contract they have with my imaging truck. I already don’t like them strong arming me with priveledges, call coverage, etc.

I agree with GutOnc re: stark as well. Even if it didn’t violate stark, does the hospital really save enough money going through you for it to be worth the potential headache?

Just to add to this (and to point out the obvious, that I'm not a lawyer), even if it's not a true Stark violation, the optics of it would be so bad for the hospital that I can't imagine their legal counsel agreeing to this. And since America is a nation run by lawyers (if not by actual laws), that's going to trump everything.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

Plenty of PP groups own their own imaging equipment (as do hospitals)

I personally would not want to be in a position where the hospital could strong arm me using the contract they have with my imaging truck. I already don’t like them strong arming me with priveledges, call coverage, etc.

I agree with GutOnc re: stark as well. Even if it didn’t violate stark, does the hospital really save enough money going through you for it to be worth the potential headache?

A lot of good points here.

I’m a partner in a PP that has all of its own imaging equipment. As I understand it, there are some interesting exceptions within the Stark laws for PPs, and even then there are some gyrations we have to go through to make sure we don’t get into Stark law trouble.

Renting an imaging truck directly to the hospital you work at sounds like the epitome of a Stark law violation. Now, I guess if you were renting the truck to other institutions you had no involvement with, that might be a different story…but even then I can’t imagine this being all that lucrative. Plus you’d be competing with all sorts of other established players who I’d imagine would have a lot of cost advantages over you…

 

[checkpointinhibitor]

A lot of good points here.

I’m a partner in a PP that has all of its own imaging equipment. As I understand it, there are some interesting exceptions within the Stark laws for PPs, and even then there are some gyrations we have to go through to make sure we don’t get into Stark law trouble.

Renting an imaging truck directly to the hospital you work at sounds like the epitome of a Stark law violation. Now, I guess if you were renting the truck to other institutions you had no involvement with, that might be a different story…but even then I can’t imagine this being all that lucrative. Plus you’d be competing with all sorts of other established players who I’d imagine would have a lot of cost advantages over you…

Care to elaborate how it would differ for PP?

 

[gutonc]

Care to elaborate how it would differ for PP?

Which part?

The key issue in @onconc 's original post was that they were suggesting they buy the CT truck and then use their influence at the hospital they work at to contract with the company/truck that they set up. This would definitely run afoul of Stark and would likely be true for PP as well.

If @dozitgetchahi bought one of these and then leased it to their own PP group, being part of the committee that decided who got the lease, that too would be a Stark violation.

Now, if @dozitgetchahi is a partner in the PP group and, as a group, they decide to buy the CT truck and use it for their own patients, that is acceptable. They could also, conceivably, rent it to other practices/hospitals to use when they're not using it, but if any of the partners had some sort of interest in those other practices or hospitals, that would be a potential Stark violation.

There are, of course, some legal niceties and loopholes that I'm not 100% clear on, and if you wanted to try to thread the needle on a Stark compliant situation, I'm sure there are plenty of $1000/hr lawyers near you that would be willing to accept that challenge, given a sizable retainer.

 

[onconc]

This post was an inspiration for me to think about owning a CT truck I must say.

The Lucrative Side Hustles of a 7-Figure Urologist - Physician on FIRE

The 7-figure urologist has more "side hustle" income than most physicians bring home from clinical work. You can learn from this urologist's side hustles.

www.physicianonfire.com

He/she talks about how they bought a Lithotripsy machine

I started out with the intention just to buy my own machine and just rent it to the hospital where I practiced.