PEEK INSIDE: New medical technology is often...

PEEK INSIDE: New medical technology is often expensive, but it can wind up cutting health-care costs, says Stuart Davidson. He’s a consultant to the Orange-based St. Joseph Health System hospital chain (D4). Davidson cites the magnetic resonance imaging machine, which costs more than $2 million and provides clear, three-dimensional pictures of the inside of the body without subjecting patients to potentially harmful X-rays. . . . MRIs have cut one type of joint operation by 55% as doctors see they don’t have to operate. The consultant says the trend now is for “all but the smallest of hospitals” to have an MRI machine.