MRI providers debate merits of machines

While Ozarks Magnetic Imaging Inc., a provider of magnetic resonance imaging, was installing its third MRI at its 1344 E. Woodhurst location Nov. 29, another Springfield MRI provider was preparing to close its doors for good.

Mid-Atlantic Open MRI, 3040 S. Fremont, closed Nov. 30 after operating in Springfield for three years. Administrator Shelley Sisco said the facility was not drawing enough patients to remain open, and referred all other questions to Mid-Atlantic's parent company, Pennsylvania-based Mid-Atlantic Unified Health Systems, which declined to comment on the closing of the Springfield facility.

Jackie Muenks, OMI director, speculated that Mid-Atlantic's lack of patient load may have been related to the fact that Mid-Atlantic provided only open, lower magnetic field-strength MRIs, which are primarily used to accommodate larger or claustrophobic patients.

She said MRIs like the ones Mid-Atlantic used at its facility are slower and don't provide the image quality that high-field MRIs provide.

"The open MRI machines are a lower-tesla magnet, so they have some limitations," Muenks said.

She said because the MRI relies on the strength of a magnet to obtain information about the body, the more uniform and pure the magnetic field is, the higher quality of scan the MRI will produce. Traditional, more enclosed MRIs limit the magnet's exposure to outside elements, but can be uncomfortable for larger or claustrophobic patients.

"The best way to keep that field pure is to keep outside interference out," Muenks said.

OMI's new, $1 million, high-field MRI has a shorter, flared opening and replaces an open MRI unit that was removed and sold a few months ago because OMI found that some patients were having to undergo the process again after an open MRI did not lead to a diagnosis.

"We've decided that we want to keep the high field strength, but have the (shorter, wider opening) so that we not only have the technology we want and the capability to produce quality scanning, but we are also able to help with the anxiety some patients experience with MRI," Muenks said.

MRI is used to diagnose a variety of problems, including cancer, spinal injury and brain tumors.

"MRI is mainly used for soft-tissue disease, anything from MS, to cancer, to injuries do a lot of musculoskeletal work, including sports injuries," she added.

Muenks said she believes most physicians prefer traditional, high-field MRIs and therefore refer more patients to OMI, which is jointly owned and operated by Cox Health Systems and St. John's Health Systems and has provided outpatient MRI services since 1987. Both Springfield hospitals and Skaggs Community Health Center in Branson now have in-house MRIs, which are used to diagnose severe trauma-induced injuries and serve patients, she said.

Newer-model open MRIs now have the same image capabilities as the traditional, more enclosed high-field machines, according to MRI of Springfield Vice President Robert Coleman, who is a radiologist and owns the facility in the Castle Gate office complex with his wife, Vicki, who is also a radiologist.

MRI of Springfield, with its two open MRIs, has provided MRI service for about two years. Coleman said he thinks Mid-Atlantic's failure in Springfield's competitive and "medically political" market was not because it provided only open MRIs, but because its equipment was not up to par.

"(Mid-Atlantic) put cheaper equipment in ... there's cheap open MRI equipment and there's expensive open MRI equipment," Coleman said. "When we opened, we chose to put in expensive open MRI equipment. We knew this market would be hard ... if anything, we needed to offer excellent image quality with our MRIs to be able to compete here."

Coleman said both MRIs at MRI of Springfield cost in the neighborhood of $1 million each, and MRI of Springfield has already expanded in the two years it's been in Springfield. He said MRI of Springfield chose to go with open MRIs when it opened because the company wanted to offer something new to the Springfield MRI market.

"We knew that Springfield needed more MRI service wait at OMI was three to four weeks at that time. We wanted to offer the comfort level an open MRI provides, but we knew we needed to offer the image quality the traditional MRIs were known to provide."

Coleman said most people who weigh more than 250 pounds are physically unable to fit inside a traditional MRI.

"They can be very limiting, and depending on height, even if you weigh less than 250, (traditional MRIs) can be uncomfortable," Coleman said. "Some doctors refer patients to us not only because of the comfort level we can provide, but also because of the quality of our films."