Medicare MRI utilization rate by state

Medicare beneficiaries in Delaware were more than twice as likely as their counterparts in Vermont to undergo MRI in 2004. The state-by-state rates ranged from 241 MR scans per 1000 Medicare beneficiaries in Delaware to 107 scans per 1000 in Vermont.

The national average was 171 scans per 1000. Laurence Parker, Ph.D., a  researcher from Thomas Jefferson University, reported at the 2007 RSNA meeting that the utilization rate varied by more than fivefold from state to state for emerging applications, such as body and cardiovascular MR imaging. (Provided by L. Parker)