JHU MRI Service Center Scheduling and Scanner Use Policy

1. Booking and Billing
   1. The service provided is MRI machine time, which is billed at established hourly and/or lease rates in increments of 15 minutes, starting at the point when an investigator involved in the study takes charge of the scanner and/or control room, and ending when the investigator relinquishes control.
   2. All investigators will be billed for the greater of the amount of scanner time reserved, or the actual time used, except where another study is substituted, in which case, the substitute study will be billed. The investigator, the scanner time, and a valid billing account must be reported on the requisition sheets provided at the console. The pink copy of the form can be retained by the user as a receipt for reconciliation of his/her records. MRI Service Center RT personnel reserve the right to correct errors in time reported on the sheets when there is evidence that the time is not accurately recorded.
   3. Users may book scan time up to 30 days in advance. Exemptions to the 30-day notice may be considered upon application to the Service Center Director for extraordinary reasons, such as logistics peculiar to the specific research study.
   4. Budget numbers must match the protocol number being used to schedule.
   5. Cancellations must be done 48 hours in advance to allow the Service Center and/or other investigators time to develop alternative plans for use of the time. Cancellations less than 48 hours will be billed except where a substitute study is performed {under (b)}. No other exemptions to the 48-hr rule will be granted retro-actively. However the Service Center reserves the right to provide proactive flexibility with respect to cancellations to investigators based upon prior application to the Service Center Director, for extraordinary reasons pertaining to the logistics of the research study (e.g. in order to promote applications of MRI to acute care medicine). Exceptions granted under such circumstances, shall be monitored for excessive cancellation rates and reviewed monthly for continuation and/or modification.
2. Human Studies - No human study can be performed without a current, valid, JHU IRB approval. It is the investigators responsibility to ensure that a valid IRB approval is in place, and that all aspects of the human study shall be performed consistent with that approval. Research participants presenting for a research MRI to be performed by MRI Service Center personnel on the research scanners in the clinical MRI area, must arrive 15 minutes early, present the appropriate paperwork to the front desk staff, and wait to be escorted to the research scanner.
3. Animal Studies - No in vivo animal study can be performed without a current, valid, approval from the Johns Hopkins Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. It is the investigators responsibility to ensure that a valid approved animal protocol is in place, and that all aspects of the animal study shall be performed consistent with that IACUC-approved protocol. All investigators acknowledge the standard operating procedures (SOP) for animal MR research by signing this document prior to initiating any studies. IACUC approval letters and the study protocol must be provided for review by the MR oversight committee prior to initiating a new animal protocol. A cleanup check-sheet must be filled out and signed after every scan involving animal research in the MRI Service Center.
4. Technologist Support - Fully-qualified RT support is also available to hourly and day-lease investigators as a courtesy, to be determined by the daily schedule but generally between normal business working hours. If RT coverage is needed you must contact Hugh Wall 48 hours prior to the study time. While RT staff employed by the MRI Service Center will endeavor to do everything they can to ensue a successful outcome for the study, it is understood that research by its nature, involves uncertainty, and the MRI Service Center is not responsible for the failure of the research study to deliver the desired results or indeed any results, and provides no warranties as to the expertise of its RT staff in performing or attempting to perform a particular research protocol or study.
5. Safety Training - All investigators who enter or are liable to enter the scan room must undergo annual safety training. This is currently in the form of a web-based module. All investigators wishing to operate a MRI Service Center scanner, and who are permitted to do so under their IRB and or animal protocol (per #2, or #3 above) must establish to the manager of the MRI Service Center (Hugh Wall) that they are competent to do so.
6. Study Completion - The Service Center provides MRI machine time and is not responsible for the success or failure of an MRI study, or for failures due to non-standard, non-clinical MRI pulse sequences, study protocols, detector coils, interface electronics or ancillary equipment owned in full or in part by the investigator or by other 3rd parties
7. Scanner Modifications - Research involving installation of a software patch or hardware modifications requires the prior approval of the Service Center manager (Hugh Wall) or Director. At the end of the study: (a) unload such software and/or safely remove the hardware, (b) reinstall the commercial software or hardware where applicable, and (c) run a phantom scan to ensure proper operation – the investigator may be held liable for additional scanner time if a scanner left in a dysfunctional state due to modifications to its hardware and/or software.
8. Data Retrieval - It the investigator's responsibility to retrieve data from the scanner in the preferred manner. In general due to data storage limitations, images may be removed from the scanner after 24 hrs, and while the service center has an image back-up facility and will attempt to recover lost images wherever possible, it will not be liable for lost images beyond the 24 hr period that is available. The Service Center reserves the right to bill investigators for excessive use of labor required to retrieve back-up data.
9. Equipment Failures - In the event of failures due to MRI Service Center equipment malfunction or breakage, the liability of the MRI Service Center shall be limited to the cost of the scanner time from the point when the malfunction occurred and no useful data is obtained, to the point when the study canceled or abandoned.
10. Conduct of Study - It is the responsibility of the investigators to ensure on-time arrival of research subjects, their suitability for study, and the availability of any non-standard materials (hardware, coils, software, pulse sequences, ancillary equipment) required for the study. The Service Center shall generally not be liable for cancellation charges (under para. 1 above) or other expenses arising from (a) no-show of subject(s); or (b) the inability of the subject to be scanned for any reason (e.g. size, state-of health, claustrophobia, death or injury); or (c) the unavailability of non-standard materials required for the study.
11. Clean Up - It is the responsibility of the users to clean up when finished: (a) trash is to be emptied; (b) linen is to be deposited in the linen hamper; (c) all coils and scanner equipment are to be cleaned and put away properly; (d) any scanner or equipment problem is to be reported to Hugh Wall immediately at pager #410-434-1482(#4-1482) or cell 443-504-9631; (e) anything left in the scanner or console area that does not belong to the MRI Service Center is subject to being removed and/or discarded; and (f) a phantom scan must be run after every study.
12. Billing Disputes - Disputes about billing shall be first referred to the MRI Service Center billing administrator and/or the Director of the MRI Service Center. For charges occurring in the same fiscal year, complaints must be registered within the greater of (a)not more than 120 days after the date the scan, or (b) 90 days after the charge is posted to the account. Complaints about charges occurring in the prior fiscal year, complaints must be registered (c) not more than 120 days after the date the scan or (d) 90 days after the charge is posted to the account, BUT IN EITHER CASE (e) not more than 90 days after the end of the fiscal year in which the billing event occurred. In the case where a billing dispute cannot be resolved the billing dispute will be referred to the controllers office who may appoint an arbitrator.

(updated FY’09)