Almost half of patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) with possible cardiac chest pain are at intermediate risk for short term death or infarction. Most are admitted to the hospital for serial ECG's, cardiac biomarkers, cardiology consultation, and stress testing or coronary angiogram. However, the 2007 ACC/AHA guidelines suggest that these patients can be managed in an observation unit (OU). Recently, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has proven more accurate than traditional testing modalities for the diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and has also received endorsement from the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines. Immediate application of CMR in an OU may improve health care utilization compared to standard hospital admission for intermediate risk patients.