The cost of MRI: changes in costs 1989-1996.
A study was conducted to provide an up-to-date analysis of the costs associated with operating an MRI facility in a mainstream National Health Service (NHS) setting. This paper presents an analysis of the costs associated with the acquisition and operation of an MRI scanner installed at the Walsgrave NHS Trust in Coventry in 1988. Costs arising immediately after the introduction of the MRI facility in 1988 are compared with the costs arising towards the end of the scanner's useful life during the 1995/96 financial year. The findings suggest that although the nominal total costs of MRI have increased marginally, from 403,223 Pounds to 434,037 Pounds (an increase of 30,814 Pounds), the increase in total costs is below the rate of inflation, and the nominal average costs of MRI have fallen from 179.20 Pounds to 115.77 Pounds over the period.
Fletcher
J
J
Centre for Health Services Studies, Warwick Business School, Coventry, UK.
Clark
M D
MD
Sutton
F A
FA
Wellings
R
R
Garas
K
K
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004180:Direct Service Costs; D017049:Employer Health Costs; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000191:economics*