"Despite news reports in October that the world is running out of helium, clinical MRI units throughout the U.S. were and remain unaffected."
I wouldn't be surprised if some patients are given bad info by either clinic or insurer. Blaming a global shortage, real or perceived, points the patient's emotional response away from the provider.
I've had an MRI (and had to do the prerequisite 6 weeks of PT).
The MRI is a huge machine. It's in its own room, and they have to be careful about allowing any metal too close to it. The scan itself took about an hour for a couple of different views, a tech had to get my body in the right position and support it with various pads and pillows. You cannot move at all, and if you do, they have to start over. Given the time for the scan itself, plus any setup and cleaning they might have to do, I'd guess one machine could do a dozen or so scans per day. At the hospital I went to, they only did scans two days per week, I don't know if that was because they had limited staff or they need to allow for maintenance/calibration of the machine. Also I had a scan with contrast, and the doc who did the contrast injection also had limited availability.
So there are real limits on the supply of MRI time, my guess is that this drives the price more than anything. It's not like an X-ray that just takes a few minutes.
"Despite news reports in October that the world is running out of helium, clinical MRI units throughout the U.S. were and remain unaffected."
I wouldn't be surprised if some patients are given bad info by either clinic or insurer. Blaming a global shortage, real or perceived, points the patient's emotional response away from the provider.