Since 1895, medical imaging has seen a pace of technological change unlike any other medical profession. The Australian government was slow to implement Magnetic Resonance Imaging as a diagnostic technology in the 1980s, leading to a complicated and bureaucratic introduction of the technology in the country. This led to a seminal moment in the late 1990’s defined by the "Scan Scam", an event that shaped the national discourse around MRI for decades.

Ahead of next year’s planned changes to MRI Medicare licensing, this presentation will reflect on the implementation of MRI in Australia, the circumstances that culminated in what became known nationally as the “Scan Scam”, and the political fallout that has reverberated in Australian health policy since.