How long to receive MRI results?

[Gerrinson]

I just had my first MRI last week and I'm curious to know about how long it normally takes to get the results back?

At the lab, they said a couple of business days, so Monday or Tuesday of this week I should have heard from my doctor, but I haven't heard back yet. I called his office and he had already left for the day, so I guess I won't hear back today either.

I was wondering if maybe the lab techs were ridiculously optimistic or my doctor is just being slow about it.

Thanks

[kpzra]

Depends, when I had a brain MRI/MRA it took about 2 weeks to get the official results.

[Gerrinson]

I found the problem, actually.

Rather than calling my primary contact number (home phone) or my secondary contact number (work phone) the doctor called my girlfriend's cell phone which is used as the secondary contact number for her as one of my emergency contacts. Why he called that number, I have no idea.

She rarely uses her cell phone and leaves it turned off for weeks at a time. It was just happenstance that she turned it on last night to clear out a voicemail that her dad left last week, we found the voicemail from the doctor, too.

Now I just have to contact his office and figure out if my contact info is screwed up in their system...

[Geek King]

If you want to see some real speed on a fix, point out that they just violated HIPAA in one of the worst ways possible, too.

[Gerrinson]

If you want to see some real speed on a fix, point out that they just violated HIPAA in one of the worst ways possible, too.

In fact, I might just do that when I call to set up my next appointment since I have to check to see what they have as my primary contact number.

It wasn't until after my last post that I remembered their database is shared between the hospital in my town, the other hospital where I had the MRI, and my doctor's practice which is part of their organization, though located in yet a third building.

I did give the MRI hospital my girlfriend's number as my contact since she was driving me to and from while I was heavily medicated and thus not in a good position to be on the phone. It is possible that someone at the hospital took the number which was supposed to be for my appt only and set it as my primary contact number instead. If that's the case, I'd have to lay the fault on the hospital staff and not my doctor.

Given past experience with the hospital admins, I have no issue throwing them under the HIPAA bus, either.

[trailerparkmedic]

If you gave them permission to call the number and leave a message, it's not a HIPPA violation.