American Shared Hospital Services has spent the last 25 years reshaping the face of the modern operating theatre, leasing advanced technological systems to healthcare facilities around the world as a top turnkey provider of radiation therapy systems, as well as the company’s bread and butter, radiosurgical devices.
Radiosurgery is a non-invasive method for removing tumors or other unwanted/dangerous tissues by directing highly focused beams of ionizing radiation. Many systems have developed around this technology concept and one of the leading examples is to be found in the sophisticated (Leksell) Gamma Knife made available through AMS majority-owned subsidiary GK Financing, LLC, through which the company holds an impressive 16% of the U.S. market share in this segment.
The same financing model developed around the gamma knife has subsequently been applied to the roll out of IMRT, IGRT, and PBRT (image-guided radiation therapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, and proton beam radiation therapy) hardware as well. The company has been constructing an increasingly attractive position in this general area since they started to migrate from largely MRI, CT, ultrasound, and other scanning/therapeutic systems back in pre-1991, a year also marking the opening of the first Gamma Knife unit (UCSF in San Francisco). AMS has come a long way from humble beginnings, providing mobile CT services to hospitals around the country.
Today AMS has become a world leader in providing the advanced, critically important Gamma Knife hardware (specifically used for brain tumors and treating anomalous/problematic tissues in the vascular system, as well as for treating the sharp shock-like facial pain caused by trigeminal neuralgia) to a slew of healthcare facilities and is constantly moving to secure additional technology that is on the cutting-edge of this kind of healthcare.
The company’s proprietary Operating Room for the 21st Century® (OR21) concept is a hallmark of this constant drive to innovation, and the preferred stock investment held by AMS in MEVION S250 PBRT developer, Mevion Medical Systems, showcases how the company is deftly sewing up all of the systems/hardware required to execute the concept fully. The company recently announced (May 1, 2012) another step in this direction with entry into a 50/50 joint venture with globally recognized facility innovator and state-of-the-art designer/architect, NBBJ, who praised AMS’s OR21 as a bold vision for the future of surgical environments, destined to help spark a revolution in the industry.
The OR12 concept embraces the entire spectrum of equipment, even things like operating room lighting concepts, and the design of the operating table, seeded by AMS with a serious portfolio of revenue driving, patented/pending technologies. The company has even engaged third party talks to determine licensing arrangements for manufacture/distribution of products based upon these proprietary technologies, with initial product launches slated for late 2013.
AMS has constructed its empire by marrying top hardware availability to flexibility and customer service. By providing an easy financing environment and impeccable attention to the needs of the client, AMS has been able to cultivate key relationships with globally recognized leaders in the healthcare industry like Tufts Medical Center in Boston. In fact, Senior VP of Clinical Services at Tufts had nothing but praise for AMS surrounding installation of their Gamma Knife system, holding AMS up as a shining example of a partner who can provide the kind of flexibility to offset capital constraints (which Tufts was having at the time they needed a Gamma Knife), and also extend long-term upgrade capability. AMS shares the risk and understands the industry, just ask the good people at Tufts who operate the first and still only Gamma Knife Center in Massachusetts/Northern New England.
Yes, this is exactly what AMS is dedicated to. It goes beyond the hardware and business aspect into the philosophical dedication to evolving the state of U.S. operating theatres in general, advancing medicine, and in the true Hippocratic sense, meeting the emerging needs of a growing global patient populace, which has seen tumor incident rates skyrocket. AMS strives to bring the ultimate package of value-added services to the table for the company’s clients. From the infancy of feasibility studies, reimbursement analyses, planning, and design, through to installation, marketing/educational support, upgrading, and user group outreach, AMS is there every step of the way with a no minimum volume requirement and no fixed monthly payment.
The recipe is quite simply really, AMS invests the requisite capital into the hardware needed by the company’s partners and offers an ideal financing environment in which medical facilities can acquire key equipment. Even extending generous financing options like revenue sharing, off balance sheet financing arrangements, and free-for-use, with total dedication to ensuring that a solution is devised that is mutually beneficial to both AMS and the client, the company has been able to develop quite a reputation for itself, raising over $200M in equity/debt financing over the years.
For more information on American Shared Hospital Services, please visit the company’s website at: www.ASHS.com
About MissionIR
MissionIR is committed to connecting the investment community with companies that have great potential and a strong dedication to building shareholder value. We know our reputation is based on the integrity of our clients and go to great lengths to ensure the companies represented adhere to sound business practices.
Sign up for “The Mission Report” at www.MissionIR.com
Please see disclaimer on the MissionIR website http://www.missionir.com/disclaimer.html
