Demand forecasting for magnetic resonance imaging services

Healthcare providers interested in acquiring MRI technology are finding it difficult to assess demand and, therefore, financial feasibility. This article presents a quantitative technique for MRI demand forecasting that interrelates the known applications of MRI to the specific clinical setting in which it is to be employed. The first step in this technique is to identify the number of patients with diagnoses for which MRI is known to be applicable. Next, each of these diagnoses is weighted according to the percent of patients who are expected to receive MRI scans versus other diagnostic modalities. Finally, the number of patients in each diagnosis is multiplied by the weighting to estimate the number of patients for whom MRI scans can be expected. This technique was used by a consortium of three major community hospitals in Omaha, Nebraska, as the basis of their demand forecasting and was used in successfully obtaining a Certificate of Need.