Why do they say “it costs the hospital to use the machine” when the hospital owns the machine?

Question

It always confused me. A hospital has an MRI or some other machine, and you hear they try to use it as little as possible to cut costs, because it costs them this or that amount per usage. But why would that be if they own it?

In: 379

Answer 1

There’s lots of good bureaucratic answer, but they’re missing a big point. **MRIs use a LOT of electrictity!** Those things pull 25-80 kilowatts just by themselves. It’s not like you can just plug one into a 220v washing machine outlet. Just one day of operation will far outstrip the average household’s monthly electricity bill.