Royal Philips and West Physics have formed a partnership to enable a “turnkey” CT radiation dose management program.

The hope is that the program will let health care systems both optimize patient doses and also better comply with the new dose management requirements coming from both regulatory and accrediting organizations.

"In today's shifting regulatory environment, hospitals really must look ahead to remain compliant with evolving requirements for CT dose optimization," said Dr. Geoffrey West, president and senior medical physicist of West Physics in a statement announcing the deal.
The arrangement brings together Philips DoseWise Portal software – which manages radiation data collection and analysis – and medical physicists at West Physics.

The combination will let health care providers set up programs to manage CT procedures through protocol management and benchmarking, and to apply data-driven analytics to assist in compliance both with goals set by the institution itself and with national standards.

"Our aim is to ensure hospitals and health systems of all sizes have the resources and support for proper dose optimization and justification for exam ordering, resulting in effective dose management for patients while providing excellent image quality,” said Dominic Siewko, clinical marketing leader and former Radiation Safety Officer at Philips, adding that the intention was to work with West Physics to make dose management programs “a standard part of all hospitals and health systems across the U.S."

In September, 2016, West spoke to HCB News of the need to move forward with better CT dose optimization, stating that “much more work remains to be done industry-wide in this effort, but if the progress of the past decade is any indication, it will not be long before we look back on the days before dose optimization in the same way that we now look back on the days before routine quality assurance.”

Bringing the specialty-trained medical physics experts from West Physics into the process should certainly help. They are “intimately familiar with not only the relevant standards but also with effective ways to adjust scan technique on each various CT make and model to produce an optimal image quality / dose balance,” West observed.

As part of the new arrangement, West Physics' technologists will learn how to best utilize Philips DoseWise Portal dose tracking software to manage dose and remain compliant, he advised, adding that beyond that “our experts will work alongside hospitals and imaging centers to address challenges and provide advice for building their radiation safety program."

The arrangement lets health care providers choose between three levels of professional support to best achieve their CT dose management needs.

This includes a range of activities including protocol reviews and optimization, checking CT scanners for accuracy, and establishing dose alert levels.

In May, a report by Markets and Markets advised that the radiation dose management market “is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 42 percent from 2017 to 2022, to hit $931.3 million by 2022, up from $161.3 million in 2017.

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