MRIs Scamming the Not-so Sick
How many times have you been referred to receive an MRI in your life? You may have been in a mild car accident once and went to the doctor for some slight neck pain and they immediately tell you to get an MRI scan, even though you most likely just have slight ship lash. Though the invention of the MRI has saved thousands of lives, it has also filled the pockets of doctors who prescribe their patients to use it. This can easily lead to a bias in doctors who want to make a little cash with patients that have nothing wrong with them.
Back in 1990, the Government Accountability Office found that Florida doctors ordered 3x as many MRIs, 2x as many CTs and 5x as many ultrasounds if they owed a piece of imaging service. Even though Congress has been attempting to cut down on these self-refferals, claiming they promote doctors to order unnecessary test and inflate health care costs, yet there are loopholes. Doctors are still able to refer patients to scanners/MRIs in their own building, and since time-shares are allowed, doctors are able to send patients during hours they own the machine.
Looking at doctors who do not have any skin in the game, patients who they prescribe for an MRI only have 23% outcomes with no abnormalities compared to doctors who do receive profit have 42% patients with no abnormalities. This is an issues that must be made aware to the public as these costs are driving up the cost of healthcare and the bills of patients who may not











