January 2015
Featured in this insight: Medical & healthcare
At-home X-rays gaining popularity, research finds: Due to more patients seeking at-home care, portable x-rays are gaining popularity with individuals who desire treatment in a familiar setting.
A study of 69 elderly patients found that 17 per cent of those who had an x-ray in hospital, suffered from delirium. As a result of the delirium caused by the in-hospital x-ray, the patients required further treatment.
Contrarily, none of those who had an at-home x-ray suffered from any signs of delirium.
Some frail patients may not be able to attend a hospital visit due to mobility or safety issues, and therefore may seek a portable x-ray provider to avoid making a potentially dangerous trip to the hospital. Other patients may simply favour at-home x-rays because it’s more convenient for them, with x-rays such as ankle and chest taking less than twenty minutes.
Paul Fowler, founder of Portable X-Ray, Inc told Reuters Health: “We go to the patient and take the X-ray, rather than having the patient go to the doctor’s office. Usually, in about an hour after we take an X-ray we give these results directly to the doctor. With the digital X-rays, we are using probably less exposure than you would at the hospital.”
In order to be permitted an x-ray or ultrasound scan at-home, you must have a prescription from a doctor.
Fowler’s company, Portable X-Ray, Inc charge approximately $300 to visit a patient without health insurance.
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