It’s new technology that just arrived in Chicago in mid-May and the founder of Prenuvo says the company’s goal is simple.
“Prenuvo really fills a hole that's not filled by the current health system, which is to provide a very comprehensive screening option for people that want to know in advance of symptoms what might be going on inside their body,” said Andrew Lacy, Prenuvo founder and CEO.
Prenuvo offers whole body scans, in the form of an MRI, to anyone, with or without symptoms.
“We have a comprehensive exam that's $2,499 that screens the entire body for cancer, stage one, and 500 other medical conditions,” Lacy said.
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There are less expensive options as well. A head and torso scan costs $1,799 and a torso scan is $999, but consumers should know that the scans may not be covered by insurance.
“For patients that have HSA or FSA, they can use those accounts to pay for preventative scan. For patients that have more traditional insurance, we give them a super bill that they can then use to claim on their insurance and, to be perfectly honest, with variable results. The insurance companies still is very much catching up with preventative health technologies,” Lacy said.
Major medical societies aren’t on board either.
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“They've looked at the research evidence, which does not show any benefit of doing these sorts of whole body MRI scans where people with no symptoms,” said Dr. Prentiss Taylor, a preventive medicine physician with Advocate Medical Group.
Taylor is also a spokesperson for the American College of Preventive Medicine. In a position paper, ACPM wrote, “Whole-body scanning is not recommended by medical professional societies for individuals without symptoms, nor is it a routinely practiced screening procedure in healthy populations”.
“It may be that down the road other types of screening modalities may be very helpful. But at the current time, this is an expensive kind of test. It has unproven value. It's not recommended by major medical societies and we would urge people to talk with their doctor about their concerns, and what types of screening tests are best for them as individuals,” Taylor said.
Prenuvo currently has one MRI machine operating in Chicago, but has room for up to four more at its West Loop location, hoping the proactive approach catches on.
“Having said that, we're still very conscious that it's too expensive for many people. And our medium term goal as a company is to work to scale the business to use AI to bring costs down. And eventually to have a scan that's under $500 and, therefore, much more widely available for everyone,” Lacy said.
