[BIC-announce] COST OF PET SCANNING SERVICES AS OF JANUARY 1, 2010

[Jennifer Chew, Ms.]

Forwarding the message below  on behalf of Dr. Jean-Paul Soucy.
Jennifer 
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Dear all,

 

Once in a while, I have the unpleasant job of having to send you this
kind of message ...

There will an increase in the cost of PET scanning services, as of
January 1st, 2010.  This will only apply to new protocols: those that
are already underway will still be charged $1700.00/scanning session
until they are completed.  For projects starting after January 1st
however, the cost will be raised to $2000.00 for a 2 hours scanning
slot.  If a protocol extends beyond 2 hours (up to 4 hours) on a single
tracer injection, the cost will be $3000.00.  We also will have another
increase in January of 2011, which should (we will review this next
year) bring the cost to $2200.00 per scanning session ($3200.00 for
sessions lasting more than 2 hours).  Any new grant submission for PET
scanning should take this into account and ask for appropriate funding.

Although this might be considered to be a significant increase (about
18%), it should be pointed out that the last increase goes back to June
of 2005.  Our operating costs have gone up significantly since then
despite our best efforts at keeping them down.  Even at $2000.00 per
session, you will be paying approximately 80% (in fact, somewhat less)
of the actual cost to the PET Unit of running those studies and
maintaining and minimally upgrading its equipment.  The difference comes
in part from commercial sales of 18F-FDG, and in part from the support
of the MR operation.  A recent survey of the average cost of PET
scanning at other centres shows prices ranging from $2550.00 to $6000.00
in US dollars! So, overall, I think we're doing a decent job of keeping
things reasonable.

 

I'll gladly discuss this with anyone who would like to get more
information.

 

Yours,

 

Jean-Paul

 

Jean-Paul Soucy, MD, MSc

Coordinator, PET Unit

McConnell Brain Imaging Centre

Montreal Neurological Institute

3801 University Street

Montreal, QC

Canada, H3A 2B4

Tel: (514)-398-8515

Fax: (514)-398-8948

 

 

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