Sophomore daughter needs an MRI on her ankle. Anyone have a recommendation that is quick and cheap in the BCS area?
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MRI Facility?
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Last: 2 mo ago by Fegnomashic
jna97 said:
Sophomore daughter needs an MRI on her ankle. Anyone have a recommendation that is quick and cheap in the BCS area?
gonna be hard to find
www.elitellp.net/
understandEliteElectric said:jna97 said:
Sophomore daughter needs an MRI on her ankle. Anyone have a recommendation that is quick and cheap in the BCS area?
gonna be hard to find
Recently used St. Joseph's at their main facility in Bryan. Referred by my PC - received a scheduling within a week of the referral. Did a morning scan and had results loaded into their portal, that same day. On an HDHP and my portion was about $1750 for the scan and radiology bills, post-insurance. Hope that helps.
thx!FTAC07 said:
Recently used St. Joseph's at their main facility in Bryan. Referred by my PC - received a scheduling within a week of the referral. Did a morning scan and had results loaded into their portal, that same day. On an HDHP and my portion was about $1750 for the scan and radiology bills, post-insurance. Hope that helps.
I would call around to some of the stand alone places. It's been several years but a cash pay MRI of head and neck was $600.
I can't remember which one was used
I can't remember which one was used
St Joe can be awful about scheduling even when the machine is idle.
Email in my profile; i can put you in contact with a person who can schedule it for you.
Email in my profile; i can put you in contact with a person who can schedule it for you.
I had an MRI of my hip at the Health Science Center on Hwy 47 thru St. Joe's. It was a couple years back and was $450ish out of pocket at the time.
Best prices are cash at Kings Daughters in Temple or Longhorn Imaging (multiple Cen Tx locations). No one competitive here.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Dont know who the referring physician but my wife tends to keep the orthapedist in business. My copay at central tx sports medicine was $75 and was $800 at st joes. Might be worth paying for a appointment there to get the lower price imaging
UmustBKidding said:
Dont know who the referring physician but my wife tends to keep the orthapedist in business. My copay at central tx sports medicine was $75 and was $800 at st joes. Might be worth paying for a appointment there to get the lower price imaging
Could the $800 been a year you had not met your deductible? I've found everything local to be similar in price.
Nope, had not met deductable, and ctsm was before st joe in the insurance year. But was ordered by physician in their group, pretty sure they are not allowed to do for external entities. Also have found physician center cheaper than st joe. Tragedy was when Bryan radiology was asymalated by the st joe borg.
Estimates provided by my insurance:
St Joe $750
BV Open MRI $450
S&W $250
St Joe $750
BV Open MRI $450
S&W $250
As a physician- I have never seen an image from an open MRI that was worth anything. They are practically useless for anything that needs a MRI instead of a CT scan I would not let an orthopedic or neurosurgeon operate on me that would do so based on an open MRI image.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
BV Open MRI was able to get me in real fast. Luckily it was covered by insurance, however that didn't stop the insurance company form sending out feelers about why I needed it. They were looking for some responsible party to cover the cost.
How much did insurance have to pay out versus the 450 cash price ?
EBrazosAg said:
As a physician- I have never seen an image from an open MRI that was worth anything. They are practically useless for anything that needs a MRI instead of a CT scan I would not let an orthopedic or neurosurgeon operate on me that would do so based on an open MRI image.
100%
Before my laminectomy in 2023, my neurosurgeon at Houston Methodist ordered an MRI. I asked if it could be performed here so I didn't have to drive to the Houston med center for imaging. I am severely claustrophobic, so, it's a challenge to get imaging on me. A friend suggested the open MRI in College Station, surgeon warned against it. I went anyways and paid $500 cash for the imaging. When he received the image disk he called me and said "what did they use the bigfoot camera to take these images? It's so grainy it's useless to me". I ended up having to go to BSW main hospital and be sedated to get usable images for him. He chastised me for using the open MRI and had the same opinion of open MRI's that you do.
www.elitellp.net/
There was a facility called BV open mri, but it was not a true open magnet. Actually a 1.5T that had pretty good images. Unfortunately they have closed.
You can also look into human imaging facility on campus. They will do cash pay, but not sure cost. Definitely can get in quicker than any other facilities around town.
You can also look into human imaging facility on campus. They will do cash pay, but not sure cost. Definitely can get in quicker than any other facilities around town.
EliteElectric said:EBrazosAg said:
As a physician- I have never seen an image from an open MRI that was worth anything. They are practically useless for anything that needs a MRI instead of a CT scan I would not let an orthopedic or neurosurgeon operate on me that would do so based on an open MRI image.
100%
Before my laminectomy in 2023, my neurosurgeon at Houston Methodist ordered an MRI. I asked if it could be performed here so I didn't have to drive to the Houston med center for imaging. I am severely claustrophobic, so, it's a challenge to get imaging on me. A friend suggested the open MRI in College Station, surgeon warned against it. I went anyways and paid $500 cash for the imaging. When he received the image disk he called me and said "what did they use the bigfoot camera to take these images? It's so grainy it's useless to me". I ended up having to go to BSW main hospital and be sedated to get usable images for him. He chastised me for using the open MRI and had the same opinion of open MRI's that you do.
We have had multiple physicians in BCS say the open MRI is absolute garbage!
Fegnomashic said:
There was a facility called BV open mri, but it was not a true open magnet. Actually a 1.5T that had pretty good images. Unfortunately they have closed.
You can also look into human imaging facility on campus. They will do cash pay, but not sure cost. Definitely can get in quicker than any other facilities around town.
If you have met your deductible, then the Human Imaging Facility looks like a good option!
dubi said:Fegnomashic said:
There was a facility called BV open mri, but it was not a true open magnet. Actually a 1.5T that had pretty good images. Unfortunately they have closed.
You can also look into human imaging facility on campus. They will do cash pay, but not sure cost. Definitely can get in quicker than any other facilities around town.
If you have met your deductible, then the Human Imaging Facility looks like a good option!
Does that include a radiologist reading it for you?
There is a extra charge for the read since most of their MRIs are for research and don't actually get read. For a read it's $100.
This is true. Most open MRI are quite poor in quality. There are newer versions just hitting the market that are significantly better but nothing around here.
If you need as much space at possible you want to find what is called a large bore magnet. These will have a center tube that measure up to 75 cm.
If you need as much space at possible you want to find what is called a large bore magnet. These will have a center tube that measure up to 75 cm.
Central Texas Sports Medicine has their own MRI in house
Fegnomashic said:
There is a extra charge for the read since most of their MRIs are for research and don't actually get read. For a read it's $100.
Can you get it burned on a disk or emailed a link? If i'm bringing it to my surgeon they will read it for free.
BSW had mine scheduled the same week when I got one awhile back.
Yeah, you can always do that. Some surgeons are better than others at reading MRI.
Fegnomashic said:
Yeah, you can always do that. Some surgeons are better than others at reading MRI.
Orthos and neurosurgeons read them daily. Regular docs not so much.
If it's for anything cancer related, you want a radiologist to read it.
Plus, at least in my experience, a radiologist is looking at it much higher resolution than a surgeon or PCP on their regular workstation or laptop.
Plus, at least in my experience, a radiologist is looking at it much higher resolution than a surgeon or PCP on their regular workstation or laptop.
Ortho and neurosurgeon read them a lot. But even then - don't be cheap. Just get a radiologist to read it. It's their job. I cast dispersion on them all the time, but at the end of the day I'd always get a radiologist read.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Full disclosure: I am a radiologist as you could probably tell and do musculoskeletal imaging exclusively. Clearly I have a bias, but many times surgeons are great at looking for the exact thing they are looking for. So neurosurgery is great at seeing a disc herniation and ortho can definitely see the meniscal and ligament tears, but keep in mind 2 sets of eyes are always better and we spend a lot of time looking for other stuff too that may change the surgical approach, suggest a different diagnosis, or pick up an incidental cancer. That's why surgeons don't put a formal report in, there is liability involved if you miss a small/early cancer in the lung next to the shoulder etc. Many times a report also has to match a surgical indication for pre-authorization. Compared to the cost of the total MRI, the professional (radiologist) fee is usually 5-10% of total cost. So if human imaging facility charges $100 probably half goes to a radiology group for IT support/overhead and 40-50 goes to the person actually reading the images.
Not saying you have to use us, but it's not a bad idea. I have also seen a lot more MRIs throughout my career than surgeons would. If it's something more complex I usually get a text or call asking for an opinion.
Not saying you have to use us, but it's not a bad idea. I have also seen a lot more MRIs throughout my career than surgeons would. If it's something more complex I usually get a text or call asking for an opinion.