Private U.S. clinics lure Manitobans facing long MRI, diagnostic service waits

Private clinics in the U.S. are marketing their services to Manitobansfacing long wait times for MRIs and other imaging and diagnostic services in the province.

The Unity Medical Center in Grafton, N.D. just over a two-hourdrive from Winnipeg says it receives between 15 and 20 Canadian patients every month.

"They're just coming down becausethey can't get into Canadian doctors on a timely manner when they're in so much pain," said radiology services supervisor Jess Tanke.

"We can usually get them in within two weeks for an MRI, at the latest."

For other services, the medical centre"can usually get them in within the same week, if not the next day," said Tanke.

CEO Alan O'Neilsays the number of patients has been steadily building upto volumes seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, which temporarily shut down non-essential cross-border traffic.

O'Neil said the centre has been ramping up social media marketing to advertise its services north of the border.

A bit further south, the Grand Forks Clinic has been sending outmailers to Winnipeggersadvertising the opportunity to get an"MRI in days, not months."

"I don't think the demand is going to go away," O'Neil said.

"I think you'll find it's fairly frequent towns that are close to the Canadian border probably do get some Canadians coming down for this type of thing. It's just going to happen because of the demand."

Longer wait times

Wait times for the province's 14 MRI scanners ranged from about eight weeks in Brandon and Dauphin to more than 11 months for adults at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre as of June, according to provincial data. Annual median wait times have gone up from 13 weeks two years agoto 21 weeks this year.

Median wait times for CT scans have also gone up from five weeks in 2022to eight this year. The median wait for ultrasounds was alsoeight weeks in 2024.

Most Canadian patients looking for MRIs atUnity Medical in North Dakota are suffering from some joint, muscle or ligament injury, Tanke said. For CT scans, it's usually people dealing with abdominal pain or who are staging cancer, she said.

A pagefor Canadian patients on Unity's website advertises MRI scan prices beginning at slightly over$2,000 US (justover $2,700 Cdn).

CT scans range from$1,000 to just over $4,000 US (about $1,360 to just over $5,400 Cdn).

Dayna McTaggart, the Manitobamanager for the Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists, said that an increase in the number of urgent patients has led to delays all across the system,with those waiting left "living in pain."

"We've been hearing about patients going to other provinces within Canada. So it's not surprising that they're considering options to go to the United States," she said.

'We should have the means': association

McTaggart added thatwhile the situation helps the Canadian public system by removing people with financial means to go elsewherefrom the queue, "it shouldn't be necessary."

"We should have the means in our province to image the patients we have," she said.

"I think that this situation where the United States may be capitalizing or marketing this to Canadian patients just further emphasizes the overall shortages within the health-care system."

Late last year, theNDPgovernmentshut down a task forcecreated by the previous Progressive Conservative government meant to cutbacklogs on surgeries and diagnostic procedures.

The NDP arguedthe task force was inefficient, and while in opposition had regularly accused it of prioritizing private health-care over the public system.

"When the previous government spent years putting more effort into sending people away for health care than fixing care in our own provinceand violated the Canada Health Act, making Manitobans pay out of pocketfor diagnostics, it makes sense that a private, for-profit American clinic would try to take advantage of the situation," Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said in a statement Friday.

The government previouslysaid the money that was being spent on the task force willbe directed to other initiatives, like anorthernmobile MRIunit.

McTaggartsaid thatwas a step in the right direction, but more is needed to address backlogs, including more work to tacklea shortage of technologists.

"That infrastructure is useless without the people to operate it," she said. "We need to ensure that there is adequate flow-throughof entry-level technologists to fill those gaps as well."

Asagwarasaid in the statement the governmentis also making progress on a commitment tohiremore lab techs and other health-care professionals, so people can get the diagnostics they need in the province.

More Canadians crossing the border for medical treatment

10 days ago

Duration 2:02

Private clinics in the U.S. are marketing their services to Manitobans facing long wait times for MRIs and other imaging and diagnostic services in the province.