In January 1994, Ray Stachowiak purchased the assets from a CT leasing company that originally began in 1987, and renamed his new business Shared Imaging.

"What I bought were 28 CT systems that were being utilized in hospitals through lease arrangements," Stachowiak says. "Some of the equipment was coming off lease, and I faced a decision on what to do about it. I decided to remarket it and just began continuing to buy equipment and expand the business."

Stachowiak saw a need for an independent company to give small hospitals a path to manage their CT technology.

"As CTs developed from single slice, to 4-slice, to 16-, to 64- and beyond, we were giving these hospitals an upgrade path that was affordable," he says. "The biggest challenges in the beginning concerned how to grow the business and what areas that were most needed in the market.

Over the past 17 years, Stachowiak has watched his Streamwood, Ill.-based company grow into one of the leading providers of mobile, interim and rental programs for CT, MRI and PET/CT systems and service programs for hospitals and healthcare providers.

"We got into MRs in the late '90s and we started providing mobile service for MR systems. In the last four to five years, we have expanded into PET/CTs," he says. "Today we operate in 43 states, with 150 CT systems, 75 MRI systems and 5 PET/CTs."

The company's success and customer satisfaction has earned them the designation of being a DOTmed 100 company.

The company philosophy is simple, Stachowiak says: "We listen to our clients and are flexible. No two clients are alike and each has their own questions and concerns. When you listen really well, and react to those concerns, you can make decisions day in and day out that are responsive and helpful."

Stachowiak believes that the company's success through the years can also be attributed to the company not having to go public to raise capital.

"When you go public to raise capital, there's a price tag to it and it tends to be a very expensive one," he says. "If you can maintain good banking relationships, the cost of capital can be reduced and your cost structure is lower. You can pass on those savings to be more efficient in the marketplace."

Looking ahead, Stachowiak envisions mobile services to continue to be a unique niche and one that will help the company grow.

"We have recently been awarded the contract to be the mobile imaging services provider for Premier, the largest group purchasing organization in our industry. There continues to be a need and demand for mobile services both in MR and PET/CT," he says. "If 10 or 20 million more people will be insured in this country in the coming years, someone needs to rise up and meet that demand. For a hospital that has an MR in their facility, they may decide they need additional capacity. We can provide a couple of days of service a week until they determine if they need to go to a second full-time MRI."

Shared Imaging also recently received The Joint Commission's Accreditation for Ambulatory Health Care, a nationally-recognized, prestigious gold seal of approval for quality and safety in patient care.

"For us, being able to provide good quality equipment and service at an affordable price is important," he says. "We supply capital in a lot of sense. We only focus on those three modalities and offer a low cost-structure that's important in today's credit-conscious world."

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