8- Cautions before booking an MRI/CT Scan on a portal

Still less compared to the Western countries, a plain MRI study costs $100 in India which is nearly 50% of monthly income considering Indian per-capita-Income of $2,500. Despite referral insistence, millions of patients looking for a low-priced diagnostic test. Diagnostic businesses are heavily invested in expensive MRI/CT machines (Capex: Circa $1 m). With the help of online aggregators, they have started investing in lead generation techniques such as SEO, Good AdSense to target large patient volumes. If they fail to grow, Labs don't mind losing salaried radiologists that is core to their offerings. Therefore, all is not good in this low-price ecosystem for patients. No avenues to know on how quality is sacrificed. Besides discounts, there are pertinent questions come to patients mind when booking an MRI or CT scan online like- a 'Is the person real - who is booking my scan?' b. 'Does that person cares to know my problem?' c. 'How qualified is that person in interpreting my reports in Hindi or Marathi?' d. 'How quick that person authoritatively answers my queries?'e. 'How to ascertain quality of my report?'f, 'In what time my report would be available?' If we go on, there will be unending questions to ponder.

To make life little easier, www.TeleradiologyHub.com has surveyed numerous patients, Labs and doctors to develop a checklist tool that consolidates medico-legal ethics and patient care issues simultaneously. Hope it help patients who are looking for a safe & low-price MRI or CT or X-Ray. 

                                                                             8- Cautions before booking an MRI/CT Scan on a portal

1. Portal insists an advice letter. Yes/ No

Reason: Sometimes, it might be inconvenient for patients to produce a referral or advice letter from a referral doctor. But portal's insistence should be seen as its commitment to ethical standpoint and necessary patient care. Such portal is good to go.

2. Portal provides details of machines and radiologists conducting MRI or CT study. Yes/ No

Reason: Like Xerox, MRI or CT scanning is conducted with the help of expensive scanners manufactured by multinationals like Siemens, GE, Fuji, etc. in different versions like 1-Tesla, 2-Tesla, 3Tesla or more. Some machines have better resolution than others but all machines are equally good to print magnetic resonance images of body part. It depends mostly on the skills of the radiologist who interpreters such images. It is possible that patients getting error free report on 1-Tesla and bad report on 3-Tesla machine. Machines do not manufacture the reports; the reports are just an interpretation of the images from these machines. Therefore, skills of *radiologist and technicians are important than machine type. A good portal offers patients a facility to find good combination of available machines and high-grade radiologists so as to get the best report.

*A radiologist is a person who has 3 years of academic training and practical experience after a basic medical degree. Almost 8 years of training before she takes up investigation of the scanned images.

3. The portal shares radiological reporting template. Yes/ No

Reason: While most of the radiologists in India follow some kind of reporting protocol either taught in medical schools or practiced in hospital but radiological writing skills is an acquired skill that defines the grade of a radiologist. The staff at the portal must be aware of different reporting styles, they must be prepared to sensitise the radiologists and patients on RSNA's standard radiology protocol. A good portal always showcases reporting templates for larger audience.

4. Portal highlights patient's rights. Yes/ No

Reason: Patient is legal owner of his 'digital output (Diacom Images) and physical films of MRI/CT/Xray scan'. Labs cannot keep it with itself but it must handover this asset to that patient. Patient needs it to carry for many reasons; in particular second opinion purpose. Many a times, we observed that Labs have no time or they shy away from sharing the Diacom images with patients. In such cases, good portals follow-up with Labs till they yield to patient's rights.

5. Portal facilitates preserving MRI/CT/X-ray study. Yes/ No

Reason: Due to additional cost of preservation activity, portals do not entertain storage. The good portals have facility to create free or paid patient account along with tracking ability. A good portal always cares patient data and informs patient upfront about this.

6. Portal welcomes feedback on Lab and radiologists separately. Yes/ No

Reason: At times, portals hide inefficiencies of Labs and radiologists by disabling the feedback system. Such portals not only fear relationship hazards with the Labs but disrespect quality culture. Good portals know that any feedback is the only way to autonomously improve the system creating more trust in the newly wired ecosystem.

7. Portal staff talks directly to patients. Yes/ No

Reason: Unlike retail sector, Healthcare is such a service sensitive sector where automation finds its limit. In this sector, there are numerous possibilities to learn from patient experiences. A doctor or a staff member from the portal can do this very well on 5 min call. Due to increased load of patient booking, it is always not possible for customer care to respond to patient queries but attempts can be seen in this direction. Good portal is not a machine but group of compassionate people.

8. Portal provides guarantee. Yes/ No

Reason: The health portal businesses are in a race to acquire more patients where quality is often sacrificed. Till the time Artificial Intelligence framework becomes norm in the radiology field, patients still depend on human minds for reporting. For being human, radiologists can potentially commit mistakes, small or big. To avoid uncalled for havoc in the life of patient; a good portal follows nearly full-proof system where patients are encouraged to upload their scans and receive second quality-check of reports. An absolute guarantee is rare in healthcare service.

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With the help of above checklist tool, patients can freely book their scans online without fear. If any of the above point is missing i.e. answers No, it should raise an alarm to change the portal. But in any case, this checklist arms patients with what to seek and how to remain safe.

This article is informative, and in the best interest of patient(s). If anyone desires, please do contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to organically improve upon the above checklist.