Dr. Doug Greally is the chief medical officer for Tellica Imaging, an Intermountain Health Company
Medical imaging has greatly improved over the last several decades and become a major part of detecting issues and treating patients. The price for these services varies widely depending on where patients have this done.
Tellica Imaging – an Intermountain Health company – is helping bring down costs by having smaller clinics which only offer MRI and CT scans. By not having the overhead of a normal hospital or clinic it allows for costs to stay lower and the savings are passed on to patients.
“A major aspect of value-based care is innovating to get the same outcomes at a lower cost and that’s what we’re doing at Tellica. This is a major step in ensuring the care that’s vital to someone’s health is also affordable,” said Doug Greally, MD, chief medical officer for Tellica Imaging.
Patients know what to expect because imaging is a flat rate price. MRIs cost $550 and a CT scan is $350 on a cash basis. The centers also take insurance, but patients will never pay more than the fixed prices.
Tellica Imaging currently operates nine centers in three states with plans to expand in the future. Hospital and clinic imaging centers will never be replaced, but stand-alone centers are an option for patients who are scheduling non-emergency imaging.
The pricing model is already grabbing attention from people around the country. Recently a Texas patient needed to do his annual cancer screening to ensure he was still cancer free. A friend mentioned Tellica, so the patient scheduled a CT scan while in Utah on business. The patient explained the cost was much lower than at home, which was about $1200-$4000 for the same scan.
“The vast majority of imaging is an outpatient service which gives patients time to shop around,” said Dr. Greally. “We can now offer patients lower cost imaging while also helping relieve any backlogs at other hospitals in the area.”
For more information on Tellica Imaging or to schedule an appointment, click here. Tellica Imaging was launched in 2021 with a focus on improving patient experience and making care more affordable. Tellica Imaging is a subsidiary of Intermountain Health.
About Intermountain Health
Headquartered in Utah with locations in seven states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, medical groups with some 3,900 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.