MRIs at a single, flat, affordable price

Eric Haberichter, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin businessman, and his partners are market-changers. Their idea will revolutionize the way individuals receive and pay for MRIs.

Haberichter and his partners conceived of and created Smart Choice MRI. After you read this, I want you to contact Eric for details. If you prefer a human voice to an email, dial 414.431.0309 and tell him Dave Racer said to call.

At Smart Choice MRI a patient can purchase scanning services at a flat price. According to their website, "Smart Choice MRI charges a global, flat rate of $600 per exam regardless of who is paying the bill. Unlike the competition that may offer discounts to patients paying with cash, Smart Choice offers the same transparent price to every patient."

Imagine, no hassling over which view the radiologist will take as a way to determine the price. No matter which view, the price is $600. Have a suspected cancer on the lungs? $600. Think you might have broken your tibia? $600. Brain running on fumes (and you want to see if there's still energy there)? $600.

I asked Eric about his equipment. He mumbled something about Tesla. Nikola Tesla is, of course, one of history's giants in scientific innovation. But to MRI's, the industry applies his name with a rating. A Tesla 1.5 imager is powerful. At the time I talked with Eric about it, it was the industry standard -- it still is. Smart Choice MRI has it.

Well, ha, I declared. So what about doctors? I mean, you can't just have a nice machine if you lack qualified professional MDs to interpret the images.

"We currently interpret exams from locations across the country.  All of our radiologists are board-certified and have advanced subspecialty training." Eric had a ready answer. His radiologists practice at Cleveland Clinic, though their eRadiology function.

Now, to the point. What Eric has done is to engage his brain, to find a solution to a very real problem: The price of health care services. Eric did this without, and in fact, despite, any federal or state agency telling his doctors or him how to provide services. Eric saw a need, and he is filling it.

When I first met Eric, I told him he needed to franchise the idea. Maybe, someday, perhaps.

Believe it or not, Eric has to overcome institutional reluctance, even with the insurance companies that pay for most MRIs. It turns out, through his experience, insurance companies prefer to pay more - even a lot more - for MRIs, than $600. Their systems are not flexible enough to accept something so rooted in common sense as is Smart Choice MRI. When Eric explained this to me two years ago, he told me of one insurance company that wanted him to bill out at more than $2,000 for the service he would provide for $600.

What is the key development that clued Eric about the need for Smart Choice MRI? Consumer Directed Health Care (CDHC) with its high deductible health plans and Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Individuals began to shop for affordable health care, once they began spending money from their HSAs and their own pockets. Smart Choice MRI became the option of choice for many in and around Milwaukee. You can go there, too (Eric isn't fussy about even allowing Minnesotans into his clinic).

The only unresolved question I have about Smart Choice MRI is why there isn't one in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and your town.