Re:One whole-body MRI could replace multiple cancer scans
by mattkrause on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @05:25AM
(#19979376)
What does “medical grade” mean?
That’s in the ballpark for a 1.5T, but those are fairly old. About $1M per Tesla used to be a decent rule of thumb, but it’s come down a little at the low end. Still, I would be amazed to see a 3T for anything below $2M.
As for the $550/hr, it’s probably true that research scanners have lower utilization and higher costs to support all the weird stuff researchers want to do. An outpatient clinic specializing in knees can run much leaner. That said, that rate seems to be pretty standard across universities and I maintain that it's a very reasonable estimate of the cost. For example:
Most of these do not include F&A. It’s already coming out of the grants and external users pay a "Dean's Tax" on top of that to cover the missing overhead (which can often double the price).
That’s in the ballpark for a 1.5T, but those are fairly old. About $1M per Tesla used to be a decent rule of thumb, but it’s come down a little at the low end. Still, I would be amazed to see a 3T for anything below $2M.
As for the $550/hr, it’s probably true that research scanners have lower utilization and higher costs to support all the weird stuff researchers want to do. An outpatient clinic specializing in knees can run much leaner. That said, that rate seems to be pretty standard across universities and I maintain that it's a very reasonable estimate of the cost. For example:
* Hopkins $668/hr (3T) or $538 (1.5T) during prime time; cheaper nights and weekend http://www.mri.jhu.edu/div_mri_res/ServCentPolicyFY17.pdf
* Yale: $539/hr (3T) https://medicine.yale.edu/mrrc/users/charges.aspx
* Harvard/MGH: $640/hr https://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/core
* WUSTL: $710/hr (3T) https://www.mir.wustl.edu/Portals/0/Documents/Uploads/CCIR/F...
* McGill: $500/hr (3T) or $500-700/hr (7T) https://mcgill.ca/bic/files/bic/bic-rates-03052018.pdf
Most of these do not include F&A. It’s already coming out of the grants and external users pay a "Dean's Tax" on top of that to cover the missing overhead (which can often double the price).