Nearly half of the country’s radiologists are of retirement age, and there aren’t nearly enough residents waiting to fill their soon-to-be-vacated positions. By 2025, the radiologist shortage in the U.S. is expected to be in the tens of thousands. This massive shortage is making it difficult for radiology departments to meet diagnostic reporting requirements, which means patients often have to wait weeks to access their imaging results.
An Atlanta-based company is seeking to address this issue by delivering what it calls a “radiology department in a box,” and investors appear to be listening. On Wednesday, Oxos Medical raised $23 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to date to $45 million. Parkway Venture Capital and Intel Capital participated in the financing round.
Oxos — which got its name from the FDA product code for X-ray, OXO — was founded in 2016 by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Greg Kolovich and entrepreneur Evan Ruff, who serves as CEO. The company’s mission has always been to develop radiology technology that can be used in a variety of settings with little training, Ruff declared.
“Oxos is aiming to close two radiology divides — access to the technology across the care value chain, including affordable access in rural communities as well as developing countries, and the growing shortage of specialists,” Ruff declared.
The company develops handheld X-ray devices that are meant to replace C-arms, which are the leading medical imaging technology. These devices are made by companies such as GE Healthcare, Philips and Siemens.
The amount of radiation that C-arms produce require the user to build a lead-lined room to limit the exposure of third parties — a task that can be inconvenient and expensive, Ruff pointed out.
“Oxos devices are designed to replace C-arms by overcoming their major limitations — excessive radiation, clunky ergonomics and limited image quality. Oxos technology allows operators to use an agile handheld device with incredible image quality using a fraction of the radiation,” he declared.
Oxos launched its first FDA-cleared device, called the Micro C, in 2022. The device uses computer vision and AI to capture both static and moving X-ray images at the press of a button, and it helps lightly trained users execute clinical exams quickly and easily, Ruff explained.
The Micro C’s computer vision allows it to autonomously self-calibrate, enabling it to “capture the sharpest image at the lowest possible radiation level,” he said. Technicians do not need to tune the equipment, unlike like they do with other X-ray machines, Ruff added.
The quality of the image that the Micro C produces is sharp enough to allow instant diagnosis on-site or remotely using Oxos’ cloud platform. Ruff said the platform gives physicians instant access to radiographic studies “from anywhere on any device.”
Oxos’ customers include hospitals, outpatient clinics, the military, the Veterans Administration, professional sports teams, imaging centers and bioskills labs. The company’s devices are reimbursed “the same way as existing X-ray machines,” Ruff said.
The company will use its new funds to scale its products into more mobile, remote and home healthcare settings — “essentially everywhere where X-rays are needed to diagnose or save human lives,” he declared.
But Oxos isn’t the only company selling handheld X-ray devices. Maven Imaging also sells a handheld X-ray device, and there are a handful of companies that make handheld devices specifically for dental imaging.
Ruff argued that his company stands out because it developed “the first handheld X-ray device, which produces 80% or less radiation than any other X-ray device in the market.”
Over $47 billion will be spent annually on medical imaging by 2030 — it will be interesting to see if Oxos can capture a significant share of this growing market.
Photo: Oxos Medical
