This study presents a method to evaluate the imaging performance of phosphor materials used in medical imaging systems. The advantage of the method is that phosphor evaluation is performed independently of the optical detectors (films, photocathodes, photodiodes) used in radiation detectors to capture phosphor light. The method is based on the noise-equivalent-quanta (NEQ) concept, which provides an index of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) associated with the diagnostic value of a medical image. NEQ was expressed as a function of the phosphor’s emitted light wavelength, light energy flux, and modulation transfer function (MTF). All these parameters are related to intrinsic phosphor properties such as effective atomic number, density, activator ion. The method was tested on three yttrium-based phosphors, two of them activated with europium (Eu3+) and one with terbium (Tb3+). Results showed that europium-activated phosphors (Y2O2S:Eu, Y2O3:Eu) exhibited improved SNR, whereas the terbium phosphor (Y2O2S:Tb) had better MTF.