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They sent my son for an ultrasound to work out where exactly the fluid was laying on his chest, so yes, they do get some useful info from it. I've no idea how

They sent my son for an ultrasound to work out where exactly the fluid was laying on his chest, so yes, they do get some useful info from it. I've no idea how disruptive technology like cheap ultrasound compares with "traditional" medical equipment. It may be possible to do it cheaply now, but I'd assume the big equipment manufacturers will try to justify their six or seven figure prices for as long as they can, and those in charge of the hospital budgets will probably not be totally unbiased when it comes to making purchasing decisions. It may take some time to filter down into hospitals (like the internet).

Gibbon1 9y ago
It's not even that it's that hospitals use xrays, ultrasounds, and MRI's as cash cows. Consider a $40k higher end ultrasound machine. Now consider the capital cost of the machine over 10 years. $4000/yr or $10 a day. Yeah the bill you get for an ultrasound is all pork.
- arkades 9y ago
  No, the bill you get for an ultrasound is a tech or a PA to run it and a doc to properly interpret it. It’s funny how popular the Wizard of Schenectady story is on HN when it’s about engineers, but somehow fails to be applied to non-engineers.
  - Gibbon1 9y ago
    > No It was my point was that the 'expensive' isn't due to the capital or maintenance cost of an ultra sound machine. Although portable units do have the advantage that in a lot of cases the attending physician can bypass the cash cow radiology department completely. As for the rude tone of your comment, I have a tens of thousands worth of test equipment on my bench and I'd never dream of billing a client an 'oscilloscope fee', a 'logic analyzer fee' or a 'spectrum analyzer fee'. And every other industry works like that, except medicine.
    - madengr 9y ago
      Good point. Not to mention a radiologist bills separately from the procedure. I have a $1M antenna near field scanner at work. It looks just like a CT scanner, but I don’t bill $6k per use, then another $1k on top to process the measurements. It’s capital equipment, and I bought it since it saves measurement time, which allows me to take in more work. What a load. When we had our first kid, my wife had a “fun scan” done. A fancy 3D color ultrasound. It was $120 for a 1/2 hour session. Same diagnostic ultrasound cost $1000 on a much older machine, same person running it. There was an article on here a couple of years ago about cheap, hand held ultrasound. I was downvoted for saying youl’ll never see it in use.
      - Gibbon1 9y ago
        > I have a $1M antenna near field scanner at work. tingle Just add if one thinks a bit one can find a lot of industries that depend on renting out expensive capital equipment. Consider a taxi. A taxi might cost $25,000. Smog machines that auto shops have are not cheap. An Boeing 787 costs around $600,000 a seat. Rent a hotel room lately?
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    I'm sure lots of people have had the experience of paying a bill for the expensive test and also a bill for the doctor to interpret it. Kind of focuses one's attention on the expensive test. I guess if utilization is low the technicians can end up costing a lot. But say they cost $200,000 a year and do one scan each working day. That's something like $1000 of labor, but it also assumes that they only manage to do 1 thing each day they work.

Gibbon1 9y ago

It's not even that it's that hospitals use xrays, ultrasounds, and MRI's as cash cows. Consider a $40k higher end ultrasound machine. Now consider the capital cost of the machine over 10 years. $4000/yr or $10 a day. Yeah the bill you get for an ultrasound is all pork.

arkades 9y ago
No, the bill you get for an ultrasound is a tech or a PA to run it and a doc to properly interpret it. It’s funny how popular the Wizard of Schenectady story is on HN when it’s about engineers, but somehow fails to be applied to non-engineers.
- Gibbon1 9y ago
  > No It was my point was that the 'expensive' isn't due to the capital or maintenance cost of an ultra sound machine. Although portable units do have the advantage that in a lot of cases the attending physician can bypass the cash cow radiology department completely. As for the rude tone of your comment, I have a tens of thousands worth of test equipment on my bench and I'd never dream of billing a client an 'oscilloscope fee', a 'logic analyzer fee' or a 'spectrum analyzer fee'. And every other industry works like that, except medicine.
  - madengr 9y ago
    Good point. Not to mention a radiologist bills separately from the procedure. I have a $1M antenna near field scanner at work. It looks just like a CT scanner, but I don’t bill $6k per use, then another $1k on top to process the measurements. It’s capital equipment, and I bought it since it saves measurement time, which allows me to take in more work. What a load. When we had our first kid, my wife had a “fun scan” done. A fancy 3D color ultrasound. It was $120 for a 1/2 hour session. Same diagnostic ultrasound cost $1000 on a much older machine, same person running it. There was an article on here a couple of years ago about cheap, hand held ultrasound. I was downvoted for saying youl’ll never see it in use.
    - Gibbon1 9y ago
      > I have a $1M antenna near field scanner at work. tingle Just add if one thinks a bit one can find a lot of industries that depend on renting out expensive capital equipment. Consider a taxi. A taxi might cost $25,000. Smog machines that auto shops have are not cheap. An Boeing 787 costs around $600,000 a seat. Rent a hotel room lately?
- maxerickson 9y ago
  I'm sure lots of people have had the experience of paying a bill for the expensive test and also a bill for the doctor to interpret it. Kind of focuses one's attention on the expensive test. I guess if utilization is low the technicians can end up costing a lot. But say they cost $200,000 a year and do one scan each working day. That's something like $1000 of labor, but it also assumes that they only manage to do 1 thing each day they work.