MRIs: What You Probably Don't Know and How It's Going to Change

It’s so difficult to be a well informed consumer when it comes to health care.

It’s even difficult to be a well informed nurse. We already know stuff, but there is still so much we don’t know. Of course, that’s because there’s too much to know.

I think nurses should at least try to keep up on the topics of the day, and if we don’t have all the answers, we should at least be aware of what the public is hearing, reading and learning. I’m frequently asked questions about anything and everything concerning health care. Sometimes I wonder if I have “Information Booth” written on my forehead.

But seriously folks…Monday’s New York Times carried a story about MRIs that surely got my attention.

The point of the article was that MRI imaging centers do not have to be certified, nor do the technicians. The other shocker is that there are still many old machines in use that produce poor -quality images. According to Dr. Gary Glazer, chairman of radiology at Stanford University, the “gulf” between the quality of images from 10-year-old machines and the newest ones is “vast.”

Change is coming, though.

A law passed last year mandates that as of 2012, Medicare will pay only for scans performed in accredited imaging centers. Currently, all types of insurances pay for nearly all scans, regardless of their quality, center accreditation or lack thereof.

Just so you understand the dollars-and-cents of this situation:
• More than 95 million high-tech scans are performed each year. This includes not just MRIs, but CT scans and PET scans as well.
• Medical imaging is a $100-billion-a-year industry in this country.
• Medicare pays $14 billion of that.

Acording to the Times’ story, recent studies show that 20 percent to 50 percent of all scans shouldn’t have been performed anyway because they just weren’t that useful as a diagnostic tool.

What's a consumer to do?

At this point, there’s not much they can do except question the necessity for the scans, (probably not likely if insurance will pay—and everyone wants a scan!), ask the age of the machines, and inquire about the certification of the centers and technicians. But I’m betting that when the Medicare regulations for certification become active, we’ll see lots of ads touting “new” scanners and “certified” centers and staff.

Are you surprised to learn about the lack of regulation and standards for MRIs?

Do you think there should be more regulation?

Will consumers benefit from the new Medicare law?

Could certification bring down costs – assuming it means that results will be higher quality images?

Tell us what you think.