Medica Share Discussion Threads

[apad] 06/6/2019 10:54

2016 paper.

CT scan of an organ
"Sensitivities improved from 57% to 70%, from 43% to 77%, and from 58% to 75%, respectively, with three false-positives per patient."

apad

[rivaldo] 06/6/2019 10:46

:o))

Cheers APAD. But surely things have moved on since then - AI, robotic learning etc seem to be entering the mainstream now? Instinctively I feel that assessing a mammogram or similar is something which can be assessed without human intervention. But happy to be corrected!

[apad] 06/6/2019 09:12

pps
The Future is a Foreign Country, they do things differently there.

[apad] 06/6/2019 09:10

ps
I have a puppy's worth of MGP

[apad] 06/6/2019 09:04

Back in the day I was running a research group in what was then called 'AI' which was logic programming. A Prolog program (a decision tree of rules) could not model the British Nationality Act because it was ambiguous, but all of the press and managers were predicting AI as the future - for everything.
The cycle has returned and politicians, journalists and managers are using the term AI to predict the future again. The same applies - none of them has the faintest understanding of what they are talking about.
For the past 40 years every university lab in the country has been putting a camera and a computer together - because it is easy. Bless this with AI fairy dust and predict the future again, folks. And, we all know how computers have meant less office workers, don't we?
An investment rule that has served me well is to never buy shares in a company with vision systems in its description.
Cynical, moi?
apad

[rivaldo] 06/6/2019 08:40

Not a holder, but this has been on my watch list for some time. However, there's an interesting article in today's Times, including this - it seems that demand for radiographers may not be there for much longer. What do people think?



"Health providers will be paid to substitute clinicians with machines as the NHS embraces artificial intelligence to improve patient outcomes and deliver savings, the chief executive of NHS England has said.

Simon Stevens said that jobs could be at risk as radiographers and others were replaced by algorithms and digital tools to meet productivity targets agreed in return for the NHS’s extra £20 billion a year it was given in 2018.

Providers will be given financial incentives to use AI in areas such as diagnostics, screening and outpatient appointments, which the NHS has pledged to cut by a third."

"He said that at present every mammogram, for example, was examined by two specialists but it “is almost inevitable that over the course of the next five years, at least one of those pairs of eyeballs will be replaced by machine learning approaches”."

[hiraniha] 07/4/2019 21:34

Positive write-up in the FT last week.

[chizgreen68] 27/3/2019 16:48

Interesting move today, somebody liked the results

[mw8156] 25/3/2019 22:12

they say they added 56 reporters, just wonder how many are radiologists and how many are radiographers/rheumatologists, the profits are in employing radiologists doing specialist exams eg prostate mri and ct scanning, i would guess.

[cyfran101] 25/3/2019 22:05

"During 2018 Medica developed and started offering clients specialist Cardiac CT and Prostate MRI reporting. These are areas that are expected to grow in the future as the clinical guidelines become established and the ability to offer a full suite of services to clients will become increasingly important." This the area i will looking for good progress on...

[andygibb101] 25/3/2019 08:19

Pretty good results- international move is good and now debt free.

[18bt] 25/3/2019 07:35

Results spot on market forecasts, albeit the market forecasts which were reduced. But another mid-teens increase in turnover expected for 2019, a credible plan to keep growing the business through internationalisation and highly cash generative to move it to net cash. 2019 PER of 16.7x current forecasts (though I think those might have to be edged up a tad). Strong return on capital and plenty of room for the yield of 1.8% to increase. I'll add on any weakness - slight fear of Corbyn, but this is a service which seems to speed up the NHS.

[seans66] 29/1/2019 18:44

Took a little position today. I like this company & hope to invest more as I learn more.

[pireric] 24/1/2019 20:38

Couple of brokers had to cut their forecasts slightly on the back of today so think that's why there was pressure early doors

[mw8156] 24/1/2019 15:49

great shortage of radiologists in this country,
on the other hand, last night's AI programme on radio 4 specifically mentioned radiology and microscopy as middle class pattern recognition jobs most vulnerable to be eclipsed, and this could be in the next few years,
interventional radiologists would still be needed,
the numbers of radiologists on Medica's books are still relatively low and not rising quite as rapidly as hoped, considering there are about 3000+ Consultants in the UK.
would the general public and clinicians be happy at least initially to have a machine read report?

[phurley] 08/1/2019 08:55

I hear on the grapevine that the NH is booming. Should be a good pre close statement next week

[leoboy] 11/12/2018 12:45

looks like as of yesterday : Marc O’Brien appointed to new role of Chief Technical Officer :

[robmal] 11/12/2018 12:17

hxxps://www.information-age.com/marc-obrien-chief-technical-officer-123477267/

[fozzie] 12/9/2018 13:12

Ah that's a little better. Decent enough results i thought bwtfdik. Reduced debt, increased radiologists.

[johnv] 12/9/2018 09:15

"Reported body parts increased by 12%" don't get that on many financial reports

[mw8156] 12/9/2018 09:07

Just trying to work out why they have debt- this business should be simple, require little capital and a cash cow?

[fozzie] 12/9/2018 08:28

Yep its a hold from me ;0)

[18bt] 12/9/2018 08:24

Churlish reaction to good results. continues to add radiologists and strong cash conversion.

[masurenguy] 23/8/2018 00:36

Radiologist shortage 'affecting cancer care' in the UK

A shortage of senior radiologists around the UK is causing delays for patients, and affecting cancer and other medical care. Radiologists' leaders say the situation is unacceptable and must be tackled by ministers. Figures suggest their workload of reading and interpreting scans has increased by 30% between 2012 and 2017. But the number of consultant radiologists in England has gone up by just 15% in that time. The figures, given to the BBC by the Royal College of Radiologists, also suggest the number of these senior posts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has remained static over that period. Dr Nicola Strickland, president of the Royal College of Radiologists said: "I can't overestimate how worrying it is. "I do really feel the entire service will collapse if something isn't done about training more radiologists in the UK to fill all the vacant consultant posts, so we have to get imaging properly staffed - and right - and enough radiologists trained to make up this deficit."

More trainees needed

The Royal College of Radiologists says NHS hospitals have increasingly had to outsource analysis of complex scans to private companies or pay for existing staff to do overtime. The total annual bill for this across the UK has doubled over the five-year period to £116 million. The vacancy rate for consultant posts in the UK has increased from 9% to over 10% in just two years, with Northern Ireland seeing the highest rate at more than 18%. The Royal College says more trainee radiologists are needed - with extra funding required for training and a "concerted effort" to retain staff. The workload has increased significantly with more sophisticated technology available.