Minnesota Board of Chiropractic Examiners

CAN DOCTORS OF CHIROPRACTIC UTILIZE MOBILE MRI's?

Recently, the Board has been asked multiple questions regarding the permissibility of performance of Mobile MRI’s for patients of doctors of chiropractic. The difficulty in answering such questions lies not in the general notion of whether mobile MRI’s are authorized, but in the very many permutations under which this may occur. It is not necessarily the performance of an MRI from a mobile location which may be impermissible, but any of a number of other variables which may render such activity as improper. Therefore, the Board takes no general position on the permissibility of the performance of mobile MRI’s. Rather, when considering a complaint, the Board would consider all such issues on the merits of the individual situation.

Those doctors who may be using mobile MRI’s may ask themselves the following questions as a guide to whether they may be treading into dangerous territory:

•      Might your use of the mobile MRI facility in any way influence whether or not you order such procedures for your patients? In other words, are you ordering more procedures than you would ordinarily, just because the facility is mobile?

•      Does the mobile facility require that you have a certain number of patients before they will come to your location?

•      Does the facility pay you, or in any manner provide you with a financial or other benefit by coming to your location?
  >>    Are they giving you a certain dollar amount for each patient eAre they paying you “rent” for the parking lot space?
          ***     If they are, do you even have authority to rent parking lot space? In other words, to you own the building/parking lot?
  >>    Are they paying you “rent” for any other office space or staff services?
          ***    If so, on what basis did you make the calculations to determine the fair market value of this rental?

•     What is the demonstrable benefit of using the mobile MRI over using another community location?

•     Is there a local facility available which would perform MRI’s for you?

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of questions you should be pursuing. These are simply the more common issues seen by the Board. You are strongly advised to seek legal consultation in any situation in which you may be considering such an option.

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