Massachusetts has the same number of MRIs as all of Canada, and there are no signs of slowing down:
Not surprising, the number of patients having MRIs is soaring, too; 487,700 scans in 2002, up more than 80 percent in four years, according to the most recent data from IMV Medical Information Division, an Illinois market-research company. Nationally, spending on diagnostic imaging is projected to grow to as much as $96 billion next year, a 28 percent increase since 2000, according to the BlueCross BlueShield Association.
Patients are partly responsible for the increase in scanning:
“Part of the demand is driven by patients,” said Christopher Sue-Ling, a vice president at National Imaging Associates, a company Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has hired to control imaging costs among its members. “A patient goes into their doctor’s office, and their chief complaint isn’t ‘My arm hurts,’ it’s ‘I want an MRI.’
All the more reason why we need to disclose cost information, which certainly would help curb this problem in an era where consumers are shouldering an increasing burden of health care costs.
