Medicare eligible MRI scanners

[injuryupdate]

Found this on the web - the original list of Medicare eligible MRIs. A few have been added since, and of course there are other MRI scans around that operate and charge low prices for cash but don't attract a Medicare rebate.

The list is an interesting historical one. Basically if your MRI scanner landed on this list, it was a licence to print money. If you were Sydney CT and MR at Edgecliff, which purchased the first MRI scanner in Australia, then it was a reward for being ahead of your time. But if you were one of Michael Woolridge's mates who bought the machine 2 weeks earlier because you heard that the machines were going to be subsidised by Medicare, then you hit the jackpot.

As you can see, most of the machines were 1.5T strength, which is still the average quality around the country. If you had purchased a cheap 0.2T machine (as Sports Imaging in Crows Nest did) then once you were on this list, there was easily enough money to upgrade to a 1.5T machine (which they did) as the licence was suddenly worth far more than the machine (they are now Castlereagh Imaging - in fact with the number of takeovers in Radiology due to the lucrative earning power of similar machines, many of the names may have changed).

I think that the Mayne Research Centre in Randwick has the highest strength MRI in Australia at the moment with a 3T unit, but this is not a Medicare eligible unit (although at $300 per scan it is still good value).

Postcode Location Magnet
2010 St Vincents Private Hospital and Clinic Victoria St Darlinghurst 1.5T G065
2027 Sydney CT and MRI Centre New South Head Rd Edgecliff 1.5T D549
2031 Prince of Wales Hospital High St Randwick 1.5T 7032
2042 RPAH Medical Centre Carillon Ave Newtown 1.5T R334
2050 Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Missenden Rd Camperdown 1.5T
2065 Royal North Shore Hospital Pacific Hwy St Leonards 1.5T D0978
2065 Sports Imaging Pacific Hwy Crows Nest 0.2T 20180
2077 Hornsby MRI Palmerston Rd Hornsby 1.5T 5191
2145 Westmead Hospital Cnr Darcy and Hawkesbury Rds Westmead 1.5T 7029
2145 Childrens Hospital Hawkesbury Rd Westmead 1.5T P3050
2145 Castlereagh Radiology Mons Rd Westmead 1.5T
2170 Rayscan Imaging Goulburn St Liverpool 1.5T 5157
2217 St George Public Hospital Cnr Belgrave and South Sts Kogarah 1.5T D844A
2250 Gosford Radiology Cnr William and Albany Sts Gosford 1.5T AE153
2285 Hunter Imaging Group Thomas St Cardiff 1.5T A755207
2305 John Hunter Hospital Lookout Rd New Lambton 1.5T 1040
2340 Castlereagh Radiology Peel St Tamworth 0.5T
2444 Port Macquarie Base Hospital Wrights Rd Port Macquarie 0.35T R0112
2450 Coffs Harbour Radiology West High St Coffs Harbour 0.5T E371
2500 IRG Medical Imaging MRI Facility Crown St Wollongong 1.5T R463
2640 Albury-Wodonga Private Hospital Ramsay Pl Albury 1.0T 1539B
2650 Wagga Medical Imaging MRI Edward St Wagga Wagga 1.5T J167
2750 The Hospital Specialist Clinic Derby St Penrith 1.5T R285
3002 Mercy Private Hospital Grey St East Melbourne 1.5T 84159MR
3002 Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute St Andrews Pl East Melbourne 1.5T
3050 Royal Melbourne Hospital Royal Pde Melbourne 1.5T 88471MR
3052 Royal Childrens Hospital Flemington Rd Parkville 1.5T
3053 National Diagnostic Imaging Queensberry St Carlton 1.5T 43189
3065 Central Melbourne Medical Imaging Victoria Pde Fitzroy 0.2T 8591
3065 St Vincents Hospital Victoria Pde Fitzroy 1.5T 7248
3084 Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre Studley Rd Heidelberg 1.5T R0029A
3121 Epworth Hospital Bridge Rd Richmond 1.5T R631
3144 Cabrini Hospital Wattletree Rd Malvern 1.5T 582956Y
3168 Monash Medical Centre Clayton Rd Clayton 1.5T 13256
3181 Alfred Hospital Commercial Rd Prahran 1.5T 72334MR
3220 Geelong Hospital (Public) Ryrie St Geelong 1.5T
3220 Geelong Radiological Clinic, Geelong SJOG Hospital Myers St Geelong 1.5T P3110
3350 Ballarat Health Services Drummond St North Ballarat 1.5T BA190
4000 Holy Spirit Imaging Wickham Tce Brisbane 1.5T G123
4000 St Andrews Hospital Wickham Tce Brisbane 1.5T R195
4029 Royal Brisbane Hospital Herston Rd Herston 1.5T 7670
4066 Wesley Hospital, Chasely St Auchenflower 1.5T 01129
4101 Mater Private Hospital Vulture St South Brisbane 1.5T BA178
4102 Princess Alexandra Hospital Ipswich Rd Woolloongabba 1.0T XM116
4224 John Flynn Hospital Inland Dr Tugun 1.5T 079A
4556 North Coast Diagnostic Imaging, Buderim Private Hospital Lyrebird St Buderim 1.5T BA116
4700 Mater Miser Private Hospital Spencer St Rockhampton 1.0T
4810 Townsville General Hospital Eyre St Townsville 1.0T QH178
4870 Calvary Hospital Lake St Cairns 0.5T
5000 St Andrews Hospital South Tce Adelaide 1.5T 89309MR
5000 Royal Adelaide Hospital North Tce Adelaide 1.5T 7183
5006 Memorial Hospital Sir Edwin Smith Dr North Adelaide 1.5T G144
5035 Ashford Specialist Centre Anzac Hwy Ashford 1.5T AF203
5042 Flinders Medical Centre Flinders Dr Bedford Park 1.5T 08078
6000 Perth Imaging, Mount Medical Centre Mounts Bay Rd Perth 1.5T BA165
6000 Royal Perth Hospital Wellington St Perth 1.0T AH125
6008 Magnetic Resonance Centre Hamersley Rd Subiaco 1.5T
6008 St John of God Hospital Cambridge St Subiaco 1.5T
6009 Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital Verdun St Nedlands 1.5T 1144
6150 St John of God Hospital Murdoch Dr Murdoch 1.5T 7191
7000 Royal Hobart Hospital Liverpool St Hobart 1.5T AF219
7008 Calvary Hospital Augusta Rd Lenah Valley 1.5T
7250 St Lukes Private Hospital Lyttleton St Launceston 1.5T 13287
2600 Canberra Specialist Centre Strickland Cres Deakin 1.5T 5060
2605 Canberra Hospital Yamba Dr Garran 1.5T 7036
810 Royal Darwin Hospital, Rockland Drive, Tiwi 1.5T EA181D

[injuryupdate]

Interesting news - The Mater Radiology at North Sydney has just become a Medicare-eligible MRI scanner, but they did it with a deal with the government. For a certain period of time after getting their licence, they have promised to bulk bill all patients. This is great news if you have a Medicare eligible referral, but bad news if you are a sports medicine patient. Don't see your sports physician, please see you psychiatrist. (read more at: http://www.injuryupdate.com.au/artic...HomepageID=180 )

The Mater's web address: http://www.mater-imaging.com.au/

[sport]

Hi! could u please let me know where or which kind of MRI scanner would gives smallest noise for people? I have heard that the noise might hurt the ear. And especially for me I have tinnitus and also highly sensitive for the loud noise. I have appointment for the MRI this week, so Can u please let me know how can I avoid the loud noise from the machine. One of my friend just had MRI , he told me even he wore earplugs , the noise still made him feel very uncomfortable. Is all 1.5t MRI scanner produce the same level of noise?
Thank you

[BenM]

Hi, I work for the Alfred, which is in your list and whilst they do bulk bill, they also charge minimum fees for non-specialist referred MRI and they dont have much of a waiting list for it. www.alfredradiology.org.au if you wanted more info.

[shoulder68]

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ma...cs-mrilist.htm

Links to a spreadsheet for current MRI