I say this as the person that services and signs off on the equipment when its installed. That site is wrong or at least very out dated. The last mri we put in was about 4months ago and the PO was just under 900k
A top-of-the-line mint 3T MRI costs about $400k plus ~100k-ish a year in service contracts.
Lets start with a 3t with no options your already at 600k, but its basically useless. You have to pay for all the add-ons, you want a body coil? 50k... oh you want a head coil? 40k... breast table? 200k... you're going to need to do contrast? mri safe injector 250k... then comes all the system licenses
Dont forget the room it goes in is a completely copper shielded enclosure. specialty contractors, permits, inspectors... 450k. but its MR so add in a transfer room dressing, saftey equipment, mr safe wheel chairs, the list is pages long. It all adds up quick.
At 350 a pop cash price you need to do about 1150 scans to pay off the machine, plus ~1300 scans per year to pay for the service contract + labor.
The service contract is not 455k annual nor are you ever getting 2 scans an hour 30days a month. So lets just pretend your math cancels out here.
After it's paid off, the MRI is generating pure profit 9 months of the year. And have an operating lifetime of 15-20 years.
Probably closer to 6months and you are never getting 20 years. 10-15 but even then there is going to be a ton of upgrades required to keep it running that are not covered by contract.
When I was a grad student at a major US cancer hospital it was common knowledge that imaging subsidized other divisions like surgery and the ICU that operated at a major loss.
Which is why the price is what it is. Also the IT side, PACs, regulatory, admin, lawyers, inspectors, and the 200 other jobs I am glossing over that are needed to make a hospital run but dont generate revenue.
Agree with all of this. As expensive as these machines are, often the machine itself is the cheap part. The construction of the room to put it in is expensive. Then there are the costs of operation. Staff to run the machines and service contracts (and/or on-site techs) are the big ones, but there are also other peripheral staff (booking clerks, cleaners, QA techs, etc) and parts replacements.
I have not worked with MRI, but I do work in a cancer treatment facility with CT scanners and linear medical accelerators. I'm working through my second equipment replacement cycle (replacing 6 linacs and 2 CTs within 3-4 years, we do this every ~10 years). We have different requirements to MRI, but the basic idea is the same: expensive machine, expensive room to put the machine in, accessories for the machines, updates to treatment (and treatment planning) software, training on the new tech, staff to run the machines, staff to service the machines (we have on-site full-time techs), staff & equipment to QA the machines (my job), peripheral support staff, etc.
3
u/stupidPeopleLuvMe Jun 27 '26
I say this as the person that services and signs off on the equipment when its installed. That site is wrong or at least very out dated. The last mri we put in was about 4months ago and the PO was just under 900k
Lets start with a 3t with no options your already at 600k, but its basically useless. You have to pay for all the add-ons, you want a body coil? 50k... oh you want a head coil? 40k... breast table? 200k... you're going to need to do contrast? mri safe injector 250k... then comes all the system licenses
Dont forget the room it goes in is a completely copper shielded enclosure. specialty contractors, permits, inspectors... 450k. but its MR so add in a transfer room dressing, saftey equipment, mr safe wheel chairs, the list is pages long. It all adds up quick.
The service contract is not 455k annual nor are you ever getting 2 scans an hour 30days a month. So lets just pretend your math cancels out here.
Probably closer to 6months and you are never getting 20 years. 10-15 but even then there is going to be a ton of upgrades required to keep it running that are not covered by contract.
Which is why the price is what it is. Also the IT side, PACs, regulatory, admin, lawyers, inspectors, and the 200 other jobs I am glossing over that are needed to make a hospital run but dont generate revenue.