MRI Project Complexity - Full Service
MRI Projects: Understanding the many elements of your In-Office MRI Imaging Center Project.
- Module #2
1.5 Tesla Extremity MRI unit
When well-planned and well-executed, an MRI Imaging Center can be a profitable and excellent business decision.
However, if it is not adequately planned and/or implemented, it can also be a poor decision and disastrously unprofitable.
One of the most common pitfalls is inadequate attention paid to the crucial Financial and Business Viability Analysis (with critical associated assumptions and projections) for your MRI Imaging Center.
If this plan is poorly constructed, carefully researched, understood, supported, or modified before proceeding, as numbers might suggest, it can be a roadmap to failure. The reverse is true; created with great care and well-constructed assumptions, the Financial and Business Viability Analysis can guide you to long-term success.
Financial analysis is one key area where we can make a difference, assist our clients, and substantially impact the success of their MRI Imaging Centers!
Creating and implementing a successful MRI Imaging Center project requires the developers to educate themselves in advance and act accordingly and thoroughly.
The most decisive success in implementing a successful MRI Imaging Center requires either that the principals have experience in planning, building, and implementing MRI imaging centers or that they have retained an advisor, such as MRI Consulting Group, who has guided similar MRI projects with a high level of success before your project.
A knowledgeable MRI project consultant will have candid and educative discussions with the principals in the MRI project and will ensure an understanding of the needs and goals of the project principals.
This can make a crucial difference in the success and Profitability of your MRI Imaging Center.
Retaining a knowledgeable MRI consultant can result in a significant positive return on investment.
We have been responsible for turnkey MRI imaging center projects, and we have delivered top-tier turnkey MRI imaging center facilities to our clients on time and within budget, even under the worst possible and unexpected pandemic conditions.
In this Consultation and Assistance Module, we will address
Building on the first Turnkey Assistance and Consultation Module discussed previously; we will discuss the framework for the Client or the MRI Imaging Center Project under consideration. We can discuss the Client Entity type, financial goals, limitations, current project status, deadlines, financing, other project requirements, site locations, MRI Magnet leasing or ownership, buildout preferences, etc.
What does “well planned and Implemented well" mean in the Buildout/Implementation of the MRI Imaging Center?
MRI Imaging Center Consultant assistance, interface, and the many benefits of using an owner's representative. In an RI Imaging Center design, build, and Implementation project, what can and should you, the client, client from using a consultant who will act on your behalf as the project owner's representative?
We will have an extensive discussion that follows of the role and management of the many project professionals the client works with and the benefits to the client clients as an owner representative in the MRI Imaging Center Planning, Buildout, and Implementation process:
Selection and working with the Medical Project Architect, assisting the client interview with Architect candidates, contract negotiations with the Architect..
The AIA architect agreement protects the client owners, and we ensure and assist in the negotiation of competitive pricing for Architect services, as well as an understanding of the architect design role and the actual role of the Architect during construction phasArchitect ongoing construction OAC meetings (Owner, Architect, Contractor). When working with the medical project architect, we typically save our clients money and time in the interface, contract review revisions, and negotiation process.
Acting as the owner representative in the planning and Buildout of your MRI Imaging Center Project, we provide high-quality Contractor Builder or Remodeling Contractor Interface and save client owners the time they often do not have.
With extensive direct experience in the MRI Imaging Center design and build process, we have provided our clients with timely, cost-saving, and decisive assistance at all project stages and intervals.
We routinely work on behalf of our clients and with the project architect to assist in finding, for an interview, three highly qualified building contractors to provide cost-conscious and quality-conscious building quotes.
Once we request bids from the builder-contractor candidates, we work with the Architect, architect rating, and the building contractor's bid criteria. We then review the contractor-builder's bids for the project owners' consideration.
When necessary, we request builder bid clarifications and adjustments, review builder proposals budgets, build out timelines, request information and agreements, including clearly defined GMP (Guaranteed Maximum Pricing) or Open Book Pricing, and determine in a given set of market conditions, which type of builder agreement, and which contractor is best for the client project.
In the design-and-build process for the MRI Imaging Center projects, we provide highly knowledgeable and beneficial representation and act as the Owners' Representatives, in person if needed and electronically, at project construction OAC meetings.
In our MRI Imaging Center projects, we routinely represent physician owners in reviewing all builder-submitted construction draw requests and verifying that work defined as being completed was completed with the materials specified and subcontractors specified.
In the MRI Imaging Center Design and Build process, we routinely determine whether more information from the builder/contractor or subcontractor is needed or if more work needs to be done before a pay application can be closed, accepted, and certified for payment.
We review possible change orders and stay close to Hot Items, equipment delivery schedules, and construction timelines.
In the MRI Imaging Center Dedesign-and-build process, our knowledgeable OAC interfaces with the builder, contractors, and subcontractors on behalf of our clients. This results in significant project cost savings and avoids rework and project delays. Builder countability is enhanced and strengthened throughout the project buildout term.
In the design, buildout, and implementation of the MRI Imaging Center, our Critical Owner representation and Interface with the Contractor is crucial, with special attention paid to the buildout of the MRI Magnet Room Suite, Equipment Room, Operator Control Room, RF Shielding, and the MRI delivery and siting process, all of which are all very critical MRI Imaging Center design and build activities. Builder contractors will say they know a great deal about all these areas, and many do not have that experience! It is an area where expensive mistakes and errors or omissions often occur, resulting in costly rework and delays.
In the MRI Imaging Center project buildout, as your consultants, we are very serious and pride ourselves on ensuring the design and buildout of your MRI Magnet room in your MRI Imaging Center not only has a layout that follows our architectural documents and will comfortably serve patient needs but also ensures that the 5 Gauss field line is thoroughly and safely contained within the MRI Magnet room.
We also review the room buildout to ensure the builders have met this requirement in the actual final construction process (which is not always the case), as patient, visitor, and staff safety is of paramount concern.
We have saved our clients a great deal of money and rework in the construction interface assistance.
In the MRI Imaging Center Project, we work with you to find Very High-Quality Project Financing, Banking, and Lender and Leasing Institutions to facilitate the most beneficial project financing.
In our MRI Imaging Center project consulting assistance, we are very proud of our work with top-tier lending institutions, which often save the client group significant amounts of money, short and long-term, and can make a considerable difference here. We sort out the great lenders from the rest and help negotiate excellent terms and rates for our clients. As an owner's representative with a good reputation doing what we do well, we can help make the lending institution and client group relationship very positive, professional, and easy to navigate.
We look forward to discussing this critical function with all interested clients.
In our most recent, more extensive client MRI Imaging Center project, we worked with the MRI site building landlord/Owner to negotiate an enviable Tenant Improvement allowance of nearly $1,000,000.
We have worked hard and negotiated to obtain highly favorable building leasing terms and rates in all the communities where we have been retained for our MRI imaging center projects. We have consistently secured the best leasing and tenant improvement allowances to assist our clients in making money for their MRI Projects.
MRI Imaging Center's net Profitability is greatly aided by the negotiation of tangible operational savings on the project expense side of the equation, such as lower building leasing rates, decreased Architect fees, decreased Builder Contractor costs, reduced-cost MRI Vendor lease agreements noted previously, decreased financing rates and fees, and more.
The MRI Physicist and their Role in the Buildout, Eventual Ramp Up, Certification, and Annual Review of your MRI Unit is an area where we can help keep your MRI Imaging Center Project on schedule and compliant with necessary testing and client “sign-off” after the MRI unit has been turned over to you from the manufacturer assembly field engineers as “acceptable.” You want to ensure the imaging resolution is at the level of quality you require and is consistent with the quality your MRI model can produce. In addition to keeping you on schedule, in your MRI Imaging Center project, we can help ensure regulatory compliance and ensure your MRI produces artifact-free, high-quality scans at “Go Live” time, which is crucial to your short and long-term success.
We have knowledgeable, personable, and well-advanced project scheduling physicists available who can provide top-tier Magnet certification and compliance as required. Many groups don’t know what is needed regarding MRI regulatory compliance and physician sign-off before the “Go Live” date. We make it easy, schedule it, and conduct it very professionally.
The MRI Physicist is crucial when you need them, and every MRI Imaging Center will need one, both initially and annually.
You can utilize our physicist, or if you have a local physicist, we can discuss the required work and work with them to ensure your needs are met.
Seismic, Vibration and if needed, Ground Compaction Specialists-Your MRI Imaging Center site will need Seismic and Vibration testing before installation of your MRI, it is a standard procedure. We suggest vibration testing before the final signing of your building lease to ensure your MRI Imaging suite will work successfully in your MRI Imaging Center, with your MRI Magnet being able to provide the image quality you require.
MRI; Planning, Project, Site, and Field Engineers. In the planning and buildout of your MRI imaging center, there is crucial work to be accomplished on your part, including working with the Architect, a manufacturer, or their planning, site, and field engineers.
These specialist professionals work for you, and we work to ensure that everything is accomplished as well as it should be.
In the design and planning phase of your MRI Imaging Center, it is beneficial for you to have someone on your side with excellent working knowledge of:
- Critical RF Shielding requirements (Radio Frequency Interference)
- Interior building temperature and humidity requirements
- Drop ceiling height and cable tray information for the buildout
- Cryogen venting and buildout requirements
- Supplemental equipment room cooling requirements due to high BTU loads in a small space
- MRI Magnet unit placement and suite layout as it relates to 5 GAUSS magnetic field restrictions, containment requirements, and safety concerns
We provide experienced assistance in the planning configuration and experienced detailed layout of your entire MRI Imaging Center design space to include:
- 9ft x 9ft magnet delivery knock-out wall access
- Patient waiting area
- Check-in/out
- Operator control room
- Magnet room
- Equipment room
- Locker room/dressing rooms
- Supply storage
- Fire suppression systems
- And more
Our experience can significantly improve the professional outcome of your exciting MRI Imaging Center project!
We plan for the safety and comfort of staff members, patients, and adjoining medical building suite occupants.
Understanding minimum room build dimensions, planning requirements that will result in high-quality artifact-free MRI Images, and planning for the future are all things we have in mind as we meet the planning and layout team members from MRI equipment suppliers on your behalf.
As your representative, we can also meet with the local permitting and regulatory agencies, utility, county tax officials, and regional authorities for elevators, fire permits, and other agencies.