Cost of MRI

RE: Cost of MRI

Thomas Johnson — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 15:06:03 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]My worry is too many centres with MRI on-site, fighting for too few patients to keep it viable without these really high prices.[/quote]

Interestingly I referred a dog with neck pain to Fitzpatrick's at 11am today, and they were happy to see it but advised that it wouldn't get a scan until late in the day as they've got very few imaging slots left today, so obviously not a lack of business there!

RE: Cost of MRI

Bob Russell — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 11:43:06 GMT

[quote user="Thomas Johnson"]

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]

I remember some vets doing a deal with a human centre and slipping in after hours; suited both parties??

[/quote]

Fitzpatrick Referrals offer an outpatient CT service, you send the patient, they GA it and do the scan, they send the images to VetCT, who then send you the report.

[/quote]

So do the specialists at Optivet in Havant. Unfortunately they don't have MRI on site.

My worry is too many centres with MRI on-site, fighting for too few patients to keep it viable without these really high prices.

£1500 was generally more manageable than £2500 upwards!

RE: Cost of MRI

Thomas Johnson — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 08:56:18 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]

I remember some vets doing a deal with a human centre and slipping in after hours; suited both parties??

[/quote]

Fitzpatrick Referrals offer an outpatient CT service, you send the patient, they GA it and do the scan, they send the images to VetCT, who then send you the report.

RE: Cost of MRI

Braden Collins — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 01:01:09 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]

I remember some vets doing a deal with a human centre and slipping in after hours; suited both parties??

[/quote]

we do this for CT scans. We bill a CT out at $1600 which gives us a bit of profit, costs the same as a referral centre and saves the clients a 4 hour drive. Fees include contrast, ga or sedation and interpretation by a specialist radiologist.

RE: Cost of MRI

Anthony Todd — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 18:51:44 GMT

I remember some vets doing a deal with a human centre and slipping in after hours; suited both parties??

RE: Cost of MRI

grumpyoldman — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 18:06:25 GMT

My experience with the burgess monthly visits is that we need 2 patients to break even ,but it ties up a vet and nurse for most of the day when they could be doing other things. We charge from £1000 plus GA . Typically if we MRI 5 we get a bill for 3.6K . There is in truth marginal value in organising it all unless your going to do the surgery afterwards. The other problem is its never there when you want it for the emergencies, lots of people still can't afford what we charge, the imagers on the trucks are often in a hurry, and a bit well NHS. The image quality can be variable, VetCT are generally really good at sending the reports through unless you swamp them. Oh and its unpredictable and can breakdown quite regularly if you do not have a 440V plug in for them. And you do need a hell of a lot of spare parking space.

RE: Cost of MRI

Bob Russell — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 14:13:27 GMT

I suspect that as centres have in house MRI, the running costs (and 'not in use' time) has to be paid for. The trouble is that the more expensive something is, fewer can afford it. Has MRI just become too expensive and more of a luxury than we can afford?

Insurance company money is actually 'our' money not theirs! They just have to manage the surplus premiums over costs.

RE: Cost of MRI

Wren — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 09:35:38 GMT

I can get a horse's lower limb done (standing) for about £1k, including a survey radiograph to check for shoe nail remnants first.

RE: Cost of MRI

Anthony Dennison — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 09:05:42 GMT

[quote user="Charlotte Marshall"]

I've just been in to the doctors today requesting imaging for my shoulder and they have booked me for an ultrasound. They said 'Oh we don't really do MRI for shoulders, ultrasound is better.'

[/quote]

Guess it depends on what they're looking for - I had xrays which were inconclusive so had to have an MR arthrogram.

[quote user="Rob Davis"]

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

[quote user="Clive Ansell"]No GA or sedation required - just lie back and think of England. Takes about 15 minutes.[/quote]

We are still talking about MRIs?

[/quote]

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"]I fell asleep[/quote][quote user="Anthony Dennison"]Got told off because they had to start again.[/quote]

I sincerely hope so for Anthony's sake...

[/quote]

No comment.

RE: Cost of MRI

Bob Russell — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 10:33:07 GMT

The estimate was for a patient that has already had surgery on its spine. Follow up appointments are extra!

I am used to £1500 as a ball park figure for MRI but clearly this needs to be updated.

I fully understand that veterinary MRI scanners are not used as efficiently as human ones and probably less efficiently than those lorry based ones. Really is getting a bit out of hand and not surprising insurance companies are kicking up!

My sympathies are starting to move towards the RSA position.

RE: Cost of MRI

Hannah Wynne Richards — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 08:27:17 GMT

And if you're a far more confident surgeon than I am

Wynne

RE: Cost of MRI

grumpyoldman — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 21:33:45 GMT

You could always invest in some omnipaque get a lumbar tap at L5 ,inject 0.5ml/kg ,let it run ,find the compression and then buzz the bone away on the most affected side , scrape the degenerate disc out ,works quite well most of the time on those without a pet plan and costs £1500-£1750 if you get your skates on .

RE: Cost of MRI

Charlotte Marshall — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 19:24:57 GMT

I've just been in to the doctors today requesting imaging for my shoulder and they have booked me for an ultrasound. They said 'Oh we don't really do MRI for shoulders, ultrasound is better.'

RE: Cost of MRI

Rob Davis — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 17:59:12 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

[quote user="Clive Ansell"]No GA or sedation required - just lie back and think of England. Takes about 15 minutes.[/quote]

We are still talking about MRIs?

[/quote]

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"]I fell asleep[/quote][quote user="Anthony Dennison"]Got told off because they had to start again.[/quote]

I sincerely hope so for Anthony's sake...

RE: Cost of MRI

Michael Woodhouse — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 16:51:50 GMT

[quote user="Clive Ansell"]No GA or sedation required - just lie back and think of England. Takes about 15 minutes.[/quote]

We are still talking about MRIs?

RE: Cost of MRI

Thomas Johnson — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 15:20:28 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]

A client has just been quoted £2500-3000 for a spinal MRI! MRI and surgery £5000-6000!

Has the insured pet world gone mad?

[/quote]

It does sound a lot, though I suspect this price includes a consultation and the GA. Our local referral centre recently estimated £1500 for initial work-up of a spinal case, including MRI.

RE: Cost of MRI

Anthony Dennison — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 13:49:17 GMT

[quote user="Clive Ansell"]

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]I hope Clive didn't require a GA (still agree it's a lot of money, but needs accounting for)[/quote]

No GA or sedation required - just lie back and think of England. Takes about 15 minutes.

[/quote]

I fell asleep during my shoulder MRI and moved a bit. Got told off because they had to start again.

RE: Cost of MRI

Clive Ansell — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 12:26:08 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]I hope Clive didn't require a GA (still agree it's a lot of money, but needs accounting for)[/quote]

No GA or sedation required - just lie back and think of England. Takes about 15 minutes.

RE: Cost of MRI

Clive Ansell — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 12:21:11 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]Both local referral centres are quoting the same. Both now corporate owned.[/quote]

Not the same corporate? would be a bit wild to suggest price fixing perhaps ?

Have you got a local non corporate referral centre?

I wonder; at what point will the insurance funded referral gravy train hit the buffers?

RE: Cost of MRI

Michael Woodhouse — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 12:16:28 GMT

I hope Clive didn't require a GA (still agree it's a lot of money, but needs accounting for)

RE: Cost of MRI

Bob Russell — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 12:09:01 GMT

Both local referral centres are quoting the same. Both now corporate owned.

Starting to make a mockery of insurance limits!

I accept these machines will not be run as efficiently as human scanners but general fees for humans start at £250 and average under £500.

Wonder how much RSA get their scans for!

Disgraceful and no competition between centres! Not sustainable IMO!

RE: Cost of MRI

Clive Ansell — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 12:03:25 GMT

Wow! - an MRI of my shoulder in 2013 was about £400. Admittedly that was just for the scan and interpretation, anaesthesia not needed.

Was the quote made knowing the animal is insured?

Maybe not mad, but possibly not sustainable in the long term ?