Makes you wonder how much it really costs to make an MRI, as they currently require an arm and a leg to get a scan.
There are illegal restrictions in many areas that restrict the number of MRI units/clinics in a given area. If you need one, you could actually vacation in Japan and get one there as a walk in and the total cost trip and all is less than here.
Company I was at made ~50% margin on their MRIs when I was there. That is cost of parts, labor, and manufacturing overhead (inventory carry cost, electricity, etc) + margin. So a $1M MRI costs 500K to build.....However - that does NOT include the cost of designing, testing, and maintaining all the documentation required by regulations. For that you need to add about 400 engineering (physicists, system, electrical, mechanical, software, packaging, etc) and other staff (regulatory, quality/compliance, marketing, complaint handling, etc) + the non-recurring engineering costs (verification and validation units (rarely saleable), tooling and test equipment costs, UL testings, etc) divided by about 1000 systems a year....due to competition and progress in the industry systems were partially redesigned every year (at a minimum new software applications, and overhauled at least once every 5 years.
Now that is only for the System (magnet, main transmit coil, electronic cabinets(3), computer console, software) and does not include the surface coils (knee, head, shoulder, etc). That was a whole other business (sold to multiple MRI makers) and team, but was roughly in the same situation.