Smart Choice MRI to open four clinics in Twin Cities

–Today in Richfield, Woodbury 10/4; Two More by End of the Year–

Mequon, WI, September 14, 2016 – Smart Choice MRI, the first MRI provider in the country to offer high-quality MRIs for an all-inclusive fee of $600 or less, is coming to the Twin Cities, with a Richfield clinic opening today, a Woodbury clinic opening next month, and two more planned by the end of the year.

Today, the first Smart Choice MRI clinic will be open for services in Richfield at 1704 E. 66th Street. A Woodbury clinic will open on October 4 at 1605 Queens Drive, #130.

“We’re excited to be opening our doors in the Twin Cities,” said Rick Anderson, Smart Choice MRI chairman and CEO. “We anticipate that the community will welcome our approach to value-driven care. The rise of high deductible health plans has fueled consumers who understand their options and demand a higher level of service from their providers. Quality, service-focused care at a fair, transparent price has never been more important.”

The Twin Cities is the fourth market that Smart Choice MRI has entered as it grows its footprint nationally. The MRI provider will now have a total of 12 clinics in three states: Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. It anticipates as many as 18 by the end of 2016, fueled by $14.5 million in expansion capital, primarily from two health care systems: ThedaCare, the largest healthcare system in Northeast Wisconsin, and Edward-Elmhurst Health of Naperville, IL.

All Smart Choice MRIs are read by board-certified radiologists from the Cleveland Clinic, consistently ranked among the nation’s best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. Patients can make appointments at 844-NEED-MRI (844-633-3674) or online at www.smartchoicemri.com.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) 2015 Employer Health Benefit Survey, consumers are increasingly pinched by out of pocket healthcare costs. Over the past five years, both the share of workers with deductibles and the size of those deductibles have risen sharply. These two trends together have resulted in a 67 percent increase in deductibles since 2010, much faster than the rise in single premiums (24%) and about seven times the rise in workers’ wages (10%) and general inflation (9%).

The average MRI cost is $2,611, according to NerdWallet Health, the personal finance website, which analyzed outpatient data from Medicare.

About Smart Choice MRI
Smart Choice MRI is the first MRI provider in the country to offer high-quality magnetic resonance imaging to every patient for an all-inclusive fee of $600 or less, which includes the cost of the scan as well as its reading by top radiologists from the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic. Accredited by the American College of Radiology, Smart Choice MRI is in network for most major insurers, including United Health Care, Anthem and Humana. Headquartered in Mequon, WI, Smart Choice MRI currently has six clinics in Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Sheboygan, Richfield, Waukesha, Kenosha and Appleton), four in the Chicago area (Schaumburg, Glenview, Skokie and the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago), and four opening in the Twin Cities (Richfield, 9/14; Woodbury, 10/4; and two more by the end of the 2016). For more information, visit Smart Choice MRI and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. ###