Boulder MRI

Yikes. I received a prescription for Boulder MRI from my doctor this week. I called to make an appt, and the woman was initially pleasant enough. She called back after talking to my insurance company, and said that since I hadn’t paid anything towards my deductible, I’d need to pay $ 840.00 for the MRI when I came in for my appointment. I let her know that I’d be shopping around, and asked her to cancel my appointment until I had a chance to do some research. To my surprise, her tone completely changed. She told me that Boulder MRI is the ONLY provider in the state (I checked and double checked with her on this point) that offers the 3 Tesla (magnet strength) MRI, and that if I went anywhere else, my doctor would need to authorize a contrast MRI (as opposed to the prescribed non-​contrast), since everyone else has a weaker magnet. And if I got a contrast MRI, it would be way more expensive than the $ 840. To anyone reading this… remember that you have a choice of providers. Do your research. There are SEVERAL providers in the Denver area who have a 3 Tesla magnet, including Touchstone Wheat Ridge, which charges $ 450.00 for the scan, and they send you out the door with a CD to bring to your doctor. Forget about the $ 400 price difference for a minute… the fact that Boulder MRI, a medical provider, is willing to blatantly lie to me in order to get my business is very concerning. It’s my body, and my health, and if you’re willing to lie to me to get me in the door, how can I trust the information you give me?

Took my son here for an MRI– had to pay an exorbitant amount at the time of the MRI– no waiting for the billing like most facilities. Oddly enough, my daughter needed an MRI of her wrist a month later, and her wrist MRI would cost the same as my son’s brain scan. We shopped around– much to our doctor’s office chagrin, and found an MRI facility for ¹⁄₃ of their quoted price. Since each child has their own deductible this was a big difference in my out of pocket dollars. It was a decent experience overall– but I would certainly shop for a less expensive option, and one that will bill your insurance first.

As far as the dreaded MRI experience goes, (especially if you’re claustrophobic like me) mine was great! Friendly, personable staff from the receptionist to the reassuring technician, Stephen. Unlike a previous poster, I was able to keep underpants and socks on, plus was given shorts and gown. Got into the room ahead of schedule and when I saw the machine, I gave a big sigh of relief. They have one of the newer models that has a wider berth so I didn’t feel very confined at all. My head was just inside the entrance of the tube so I could look out. (I was having my hip scanned.) I would highly recommend Boulder MRI! Oh, and valium.

Wow. Talk about «not getting it»… I recently went to Boulder MRI for a scan of my brain, because I’ve been having seizures. Having already had cancer, the scare of course was that I might have a tumor in my brain. And I’ve already had several MRI scans, so I know what is involved.
Given my health problems, as you might imagine, I’ve had a LOT of interaction with lots of health services providers over the past couple years. And I’ve been treated like a chunk of meat before, and long ago lost any hope of being treated with dignity; that’s just how the system is, I guess.
But this is the first and only time I’ve ever been treated so badly, so rudely, that I quite literally told the technician «F#$% you, I’m going somewhere else» and walked out of the facility.
Here’s how it goes at this joint: you walk in the west door, where they’ve got a counter jammed in a corner of the urgent care clinic. They hand you the obligatory stack of questionnaires and billing forms and send you over to sit at a little table in front of the entry doors, where the cold wind blows your paperwork off the table while patients troop in and out of the door into the clinic.
They want you to be 30 minutes early for your appointment to do all this paperwork, of course. So I dutifully arrived at 10:30 for my 11:00 appointment, filled out the paperwork, and sat with my coat and hat on in the «breezeway» wishing there was at least a magazine left by the last person… finally at 11:30 the tech comes out. Looks at me but doesn’t acknowledge me at all. Just goes over to the counter and chit chats for a while with the receptionists. Then brings a clipboard over and says «Matt? follow me» and marches off.
No apology for making me sit there, nothing. No «hi, my name is…» Doesn’t even wait for me to stand up before she starts off down the hall.
So we go into the bowels of the clinic, and in the very back she opens a closet. I swear it was a converted closet! This «changing» room isn’t three feet deep if it’s an inch. I don’t know, maybe it’s a test to tell if anyone is claustrophobic before they get in the machine? Then she tells me I need to strip naked and put on one of those ridiculous gowns. Oh, I should please leave my socks on, though. I told her A) we’re scanning my head, and B) I’m only wearing sweats and a t-​shirt, not anything metallic, no zippers no buttons no anything. «Well, we have protocols to follow.»
Yeah, I get that. MRI machines have powerful magnets and you don’t want to risk the liability of somebody getting burned or injured from having anything ferrous on their person. But seriously, butt naked? How about leaving my t-​shirt on under the gown? How about offering me some pajama bottoms so my fat hairy ass doesn’t have to hang out in public? «No, we still have our protocols»
Yeah, well… «F$%^ you, I’m going somewhere else.»
Because I’ve already had several MRI scans in my life, I know what to expect and what not to wear — and I have never been protocol’d into humiliation before. I know it sounds trivial… but remember, I’m the guy who went through treatment for rectal cancer — hey, there’s hardly any humiliation you can think of that I haven’t been through already, so that should give you some idea of how rude this gal had to be for me to go off like that.
So I went home, researched online to find another facility with high resolution 3 tesla machines and ended up driving all the way down to Aurora to the Anschutz hospital. Where I was treated very nicely, given a comfy chair to sit in, called by name and chatted up with polite conversation, told it was OK to leave my t-​shirt on under my gown because it’s chilly in the exam room, and given some pajama bottoms to wear without even having to ask for any of it.
Does the tech’s attitude really matter at a diagnostic imaging center? I dunno, perhaps not. But I’ll tell you what, there was no way in hell I was trusting them to give a damn about me or my health, given how I was treated.