ABOUT APDA


The APDA is a national, non-profit organization representing member providers who supply portable diagnostic services, including portable x-ray, vascular ultrasound, ankle-brachial index testing, abdominal ultrasound, echocardiography, EKG, blood testing, bone densitometry, pulmonary function testing, telemedicine and other emerging portable modalities, all of which are delivered at the patient’s bedside. Our members’ patient focus is serving our most vulnerable citizens – the frail, elderly and disabled in long-term care facilities and in their private residences. Because our services are provided principally to Medicare beneficiaries, APDA vigorously represents our members in Washington, D.C. before Congress and at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Administration (CMS). Upon joining APDA you will become part of team dedicated to supporting the portable diagnostics industry, helping our members deliver high quality care at a lower cost and achieving fair and equitable reimbursement for the services rendered.

  • APDA is recognized as a model health care trade association that stands for excellence in training and educating its members in best practices for the purpose of delivering high quality diagnostic care at a fair price while working with all stakeholders to lower the overall cost of care.
  • APDA educates the public and policy makers at the federal and state level on the value of portable diagnostic services.
  • APDA and its members are known for developing innovative, portable solutions to delivering personalized, compassionate care at the bedside to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens – the frail, the elderly and the disabled.
  • APDA and its members are known for integrity and responsiveness to patient needs.
  • APDA members strive to create a nurturing environment in their workplaces where their employees are empowered to achieve their highest potential and receive a fair wage.
The Value APDA Brings to its Patients and the U.S. Health Care System

Learn more below about how APDA achieves the Triple Aim:
Improving Care, Improving Health and Reducing Costs

Saving Time

Physicians Need A Choice

Caring for patients in a nursing home environment presents many challenges. The staff at these care facilities need to be able to depend on timely services from portable diagnostics providers to appropriately care for their patients.

The staff not only appreciate the benefits, they recognize the cost savings for patient families and cost avoidance for Medicare. They also know that portable diagnostics helps mitigate emergency department (ED) overcrowding. In a recent survey, the nursing home health care professionals were asked this question: “If there are ten x-rays and ultrasounds performed in a given month in your facility, on average, how many of those studies would have resulted in an emergency room visit had there been no mobile x-ray service available to you? Please answer with a number between 0-10.” Respondents indicated that, without the availability of a portable diagnostics provider, 79% of those x-rays and 73% of the ultrasound exams would have been performed at the ED.

Clearly, the portable diagnostics industry reduces ED visits and likely hospitalizations.

Patients Need Access to Immediate Care

The portable diagnostics industry provides timely diagnosis for patients in the safety of familiar surroundings. Its availability avoids the risk of transportation and exposure to illness in a crowded EDs. But the benefits go beyond the patient to include the medical staff, the facility staff and patient  families.


Saving Lives

Independent portable x-ray providers live in the communities they serve and become an integral part of elder care in that community's nursing homes and other institutions serving frail and vulnerable patients.


Saving Money

In 2015 The National Association of Portable X-Ray Providers (soon to be called APDA) engaged a consultant, CAC Professional Services (CAC), to help it determine the costs avoided by Medicare as a result of the use of portable x-rays and ultrasounds.  CAC found as estimated $18 billion in costs avoided in ambulance rides, emergency department visits and hospitalizations. You will find the assumptions behind the calculations and a related consultant’s opinion letter on the findings in the “Math Behind the Numbers” below.  Our data is drawn from the Medicare Public Use file from the latest year available at the time – 2012 and from a survey the NAPXP of nurses, physicians, and administrators working in long-term care.

The $18 billion in cost avoidance is possible because of how portable diagnostics are used by physicians today. Portable chest x-rays enable early detection of, or progression of, pneumonia, heart failure, emphysema (COPD), and various cancers. Portable bone x-rays enable early detection of fractures. Portable ultrasound exams can reveal life-threatening blood clots, dangerous occlusions in arteries, dysfunctional heart valves and other structural issues in the heart, cancerous masses, and other dangerous conditions. These conditions are in fact the ones Medicare most often calls out as the leading drivers of cost in the U.S. health system, because these conditions so often lead to emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations. The very nature of portable diagnostics allows for early intervention in diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. If the results are positive, they often accelerate local therapy and allow the patient to be treated in the nursing home instead of in the ED or hospital. And, if negative, the patient stays in the nursing home and the expense of a trip to the ED, and potential hospitalization, are never incurred.