Mobile MRI Service Newest Addition to PCH

We value our patients’ well-being and experience at Phillips County Hospital and that’s why we’re thrilled to share the latest addition to our imaging services, a GE SIGNA Voyager mobile MRI. This system, powered by deep learning software for superior, high-resolution imaging, will help us continue to deliver a great patient experience and outcomes throughout our community.

To obtain this new service for our community, Phillips County Hospital has partnered with Monida Shared Imaging, a local, Montana-based mobile MRI company, to develop a new route serving much of eastern Montana and northern Wyoming. Monida Shared Imaging is a shared-service joint venture, owned by a consortium of rural hospitals in Central and Western Montana. Similar to a cooperative for farmers or ranchers, as of August eight hospitals are joining as new owners in Monida Shared Imaging – Phillips County Hospital, Northeast Montana Health Services, Roosevelt Medical Center, Daniels Memorial Hospital, Sheridan Memorial Hospital, Garfield County Health Center, N Big Horn Hospital District, and the Montana Health Network. By partnering with Monida Shared Imaging, facilities like ours are able to share the costs of this expensive technology in order to help keep the total cost of care down and allow these rural hospitals to afford state-of-the-art technology that is equivalent to equipment available at larger tertiary hospitals. Through this effort, residents of our communities served by Monida Shared Imaging’s MRI scanners will have local access to this technology and can receive the care they deserve without having to travel significant distances to access similar equipment.

The SIGNA Voyager is a wide-bore (70 cm) MR system, which allows patients more room in the scanner and provides a patient-friendly design that maximizes comfort and versatility. AIR coils wrap patients like a blanket during the scan. This scanner also offers better image quality and reduced scan times due to AIR Recon DL, GE HealthCare’s deep-learning image reconstruction technology. The system can accommodate patients of all shapes and sizes, employs shorter exam times for patients due to improved productivity and faster set-up times, and offers a feet-first option that will dramatically reduce the risk of claustrophobia.

As a shared-service, mobile platform, the scanner will rotate through Phillips County Hospital on a set schedule. Unlike CT scanners, which many rural hospitals own and use for emergencies such as trauma patients, most MRI scans are non-emergent and can be scheduled when the mobile scanner makes its weekly or bi-weekly rounds. Capable of acquiring diagnostic information significantly faster than older MRI systems, our scanner will enable physicians to improve the diagnosis of a wide range of conditions, including vascular disease; stroke; abdominal disorders, brain disorders; and musculoskeletal conditions in the knee, shoulder and other joints.

One other advantage of MRI scans is MRIs utilize computers and magnetic fields, rather than radiation, to provide safe and non-invasive images of the human anatomy. It is estimated that more than 20 million MRI exams are performed each year in the United States. It is the primary imaging technology for diagnosing muscular, joint, nerve, and stroke disorders. Phillips County Hospital is excited to be bringing this new service to our community.