Evaluating the Utmck PET Center: An Organizational and Financial Analysis

Abstract

The introduction of new medical technologies into clinical practice is coming under increasingly close scrutiny because of broad societal demand to reduce medical costs. Information about the experience of sites that attempt clinically to implement technologies such as Positron Emission Tomography is therefore important to the debate about national healthcare policy even if the data may be generalized only within strict limitations (Hubner 1992; Kessler, Manning and Votaw, n.d; Coleman, Hoffman, Hanson, Need and Harris, n.d; Harris, n.d.). The University of Tennesse Medical Center at Knoxville (UTMCK) has provided clinical service to almost 3,000 patients since opening its doors in January 1988. In contrast to all of its predecessors who provided clinical service as a byproduct of research missions, the UTMCK PET Center was established as a clinical site. Its mission was to demonstrate that clinical PET was technically feasible, clinically useful and financially viable in the long run. This paper reports on UTMCK's relative sucess in fulfilling its mission.