Backus Hospital to open new MRI building next year: How it's better for patients

The next expansion for Backus Hospital will help it provide quality care at all times of day.

The hospital is expanding its radiology department, visible from the outside between the Emergency Room entrance and the campus exit, will house two MRIs which will be operational 24/7. The expansion will also feature a mural outside.

The expansion will be completed in February. It will cost between $12 million and $13 million, Hartford Hospital Regional Vice President of Operations Matthew Kaufman said.

The hospital will hire between six and eight more technologists to accommodate the expansion, Hartford Hospital East Region Radiology Director Richard Maskowsky said.

Before this, the hospital had a mobile MRI and mobile PET scanner, so patients had to go outside the building to access the service. Through a multi-year strategy for imaging, the hospital has added a fixed PET scanner, and the building will need to be expanded to accommodate the two MRI units, Hartford Hospital East Region President Donna Handley said.

“It’s better patient care, it’s new technology, and it provides shorter wait times for patients,” she said.

Why the expansion is needed

Backus is also expanding its specialty care services, including vascular and colorectal surgery, so MRI services will be needed more, Handley said.

Currently, MRI services end at 11 p.m., since the machine is too loud to run late at night. The time restriction leads to prioritization based on need, and an inability for the hospital to scan patients late at night. The expansion will change this, Kaufman said.

“When somebody comes in the middle of the night, when they have stroke or an immediate need, we’re able to accommodate that now,” he said.

Patient time in the new MRI is shorter, down to 15 minutes from 40 minutes and will provide better images, Kaufman said.

“We’re growing in complexity, we’re investing in technology, we’re investing in the community,” he said. “This is just the latest in our continuing plan to do that.”

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Backus Hospital to open new MRI building next year: How it's better for patients