The cost of quality diagnosis

Operating a high-end diagnostic center in Lebanon may be  life saving, commendable and personally rewarding, but the financial returns are unlikely to match those from a plastic surgery outfit.  Imbalances in the public and private sector reimbursement systems for diagnostic exams have distorted yields, conclude the partners of Doctors Center Radiology (DCR), a $10 million dollar facility established in 2000 in Beirut’s Hamra district. Related article: Lebanon’s declining health spending Danger awaits an unhealthy sector “Some months we are in the negative, and some months we are in the positive,” says Dr. Anis Nasser, the center’s co-chief radiologist and founding medical strategist. “We are overall positive [in the financial results] but not as greatly positive as everyone imagines, due to the policy of the Lebanese government and the insurance companies.” He tells Executive that inflation, expanding overhead costs and capital expenditures have weighed down the center’s bottom line. Meanwhile, compensation