State health leaders have announced major changes at one of Arizona’s largest medical imaging providers after an inmate and guard were stuck to an MRI machine and an ABC15 investigation found the state was failing to regulate SimonMed due to a special exemption.
“Absolutely it creates more accountability,” said MRI safety expert Tobias Gilk.
Arizona’s Department of Health Services said it recently licensed a SimonMed location in Anthem after it passed an on-site inspection. The health department issued an outpatient treatment center license to three other SimonMed locations in Peoria and another in Surprise in late November, according to its website.
The changes come after inmate Lacey Windust was seriously injured in what experts described as a preventable MRI incident at the SimonMed in Avondale.
According to a Department of Corrections incident report, Windust went in for an MRI scan in May 2022 and was stuck to the MRI machine after a SimonMed tech decided not to have a prison guard remove the metal shackles around her waist.
“It’s just pure stupidity to me,” said Lacey’s sister Tawny Sonn.
Sonn said her sister was screaming and stuck halfway inside the MRI machine when the prison guard reported the SimonMed tech and then asked him to go and help Lacey. Documents show the guard was also stuck to the MRI machine because he still had his gun on.
MRI machines are essentially giant magnets, and it is well-known that metal and the machines don’t mix. Patients are supposed to be screened for metal objects before going inside an MRI room, according to experts.
“I would describe it as a pretty catastrophic failure,” said Gilk. “All these things suggest that best practices were not followed.”
The ABC15 Investigators first reported on the incident in October and found SimonMed’s more than 60 Arizona imaging centers were not licensed or regulated by the health department because of a private provider exemption the state granted the company. We also learned that SimonMed didn’t have to report the incident to federal regulators.
ADHS said because the SimonMed location in Avondale was unregulated it prevented the department from investigating what happened to Lacey or taking any enforcement action against the company.
“It points to the bigger problem of the treatment of MRI, but also outpatient imaging centers and the ways in which they often skirt regulatory or licensure oversight,” explained Gilk.
According to ADHS’s own website, private providers are only exempt from licensing if they are owned by a doctor or doctors who are treating patients at the clinic because those physicians are instead licensed by the AZ Medical Board.
We asked the health department how one of Arizona’s largest medical imaging providers could still be considered physician-owned and operated. Especially after, American Securities, a private equity firm announced a major investment in the company two years ago. ADHS responded by saying it was reviewing SimonMed’s exemption.
Within two weeks of ABC15’s report, ADHS licensed the SimonMed location in Anthem and said it expected the company to submit licensing applications for many more facilities soon. A total of five SimonMed imaging centers have now been licensed by the state health department.
“SimonMed has been cooperative and is fully in agreement that a facility providing care and services to patients that is not under the operational control of the licensed provider working at the location requires licensure by ADHS,” said Odette Colburn, Bureau Chief Medical Facility Licensing in an emailed statement.
List of SimonMed locations recently licensed by ADHS:
- SimonMed Imaging – Anthem, 3618 W. Anthem Way, Anthem, AZ
- SimonMed Imaging – Peoria Plaza, 9139 W. Thunderbird Road, Peoria, AZ
- SimonMed Imaging – Plaza Del Rio, 13090 N. 94th Drive, Peoria, AZ
- SimonMed Imaging – Sun City Peoria, 9403 W. Thunderbird Road, Peoria, AZ
- SimonMed Imaging – Surprise Stadium Village, 14823 W. Bell Road, Surprise, AZ
ABC15 reached out to SimonMed about the changes and the company declined to comment.
In a previous statement, the company stated, “We have always had, and continue to have, a constructive and cooperative relationship with the Arizona Department of Health Services, and we are actively working with that agency to determine the appropriate licensure status of our Arizona facilities.”
ADHS shared a full statement from Odette Colburn, Bureau Chief Medical Facility Licensing:
“We have had several discussions with the SimonMed leadership regarding the private office exemption and regulatory authority. SimonMed has been cooperative and is fully in agreement that a facility providing care and services to patients that is not under the operational control of the licensed provider working at the location requires licensure by ADHS. We understand that SimonMed is evaluating each of their locations and intends to submit licensing applications for many of their facilities. DHS is working with SimonMed in its efforts to come into compliance with the regulations and will continue to work with the SimonMed leadership on compliance and appropriate licensure. We encourage the public to continue to share quality of care concerns for any SimonMed location (licensed or unlicensed) through our complaints portal at Complaint Tracker System (azdhs.gov) [app3.azdhs.gov] so that we can verify appropriate regulation is occurring.”
