COMMITTEE DENIES REQUEST FOR NEW MRI AT ST. FRANCIS

St. Francis Medical Center's application to buy a new magnetic resonance imaging system was denied by the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee on Wednesday.

The hospital had requested a Certificate of Need to buy the MRI and was set to dismantle and hoist its leased MRI through the roof on Wednesday when the news came.

No interruption in the hospital's MRI services occurred.

In a hospital staff memo, St. Francis president and CEO John Fidler said the hospital would appeal the committee's vote.

Fidler wrote that the committee rejected the request because it now requires 4,000 scans annually before considering an application for a new scanner.

"We currently have in excess of 2,700 procedures annually," Fidler wrote. "We don't agree with the rationale of the Review Committee so we will appeal this decision."

Fidler could not be reached Wednesday afternoon for further comment.

The cost for purchasing a new MRI is $1.65 million. Hospital officials say the lease is up on the current system, and the proposed new system would be more economical to operate and maintain and would allow the hospital to perform more procedures at a lower cost.

The committee voted 3-2 to reject the request.

"What the committee said was that the applicant did not document a need in their service area," said Tom Piper, director of the state's Department of Health's Certificate of Need program.

Jim Wente, administrator of Southeast Missouri Hospital, said Southeast didn't oppose the request, and in fact had written a letter of support to the state for the replacement unit.

The rules changed last November regarding the number of scans required for replacing or adding an MRI, Piper said, adding that no one filed any type of opposition to St. Francis's request for a certificate of need.

Appeals may be filed within 30 days of the committee's decision, he said.

Two other requests for MRI certificates of need were denied Wednesday, Piper said, including one from Mid-Missouri Medical Foundation, Inc. in Jefferson City for a replacement MRI and a request from St. Louis Area Mobile to add a site for its mobile MRI unit.

Certificates of need generally involve direct patient care services including the acquisition of medical equipment of more than $400,000; capital expenditures of more than $600,000 or any addition of long-term care beds.