Sound expensive? Well, when you
consider that our per-case costs
would be around $650 if we went it
alone, it's actually a good deal (see
"Each Cataract Case Would Cost
Us $649.44").
Each of our 3 eye surgeons
incurs a different per-case charge,
the variance due in large part to
the disposables in each one's cus-
tom packs. We get a price break of
around $20 less per case if we do
11 or more cases on the same day,
but we rarely qualify for the discount because it's difficult to get 2 eye
docs to operate on the same day.
Our per-case outsourcing cost increases if a patient chooses a pre-
mium IOL — we pass the extra cost on to the patient — or if a sur-
geon wants to use an item outside of his usual pack, such as an iris
retractor or BSS Plus. Not to worry. The Cataract Van is stocked with
any items our docs might require or request in a case.
While outsourcing may not be cost-effective for facilities with a
higher case volume, it's a perfect fit for us. It saves us around $31,000
per year. We estimated that our annual costs of owning our equipment
would be $292,248. Our yearly cost with our outsourcing firm for the
same number of cases is $261,636. That's a savings of $30,612.
Then there's purchasing power to consider. On our own, we
wouldn't have nearly as much volume as a single-specialty eye center
to qualify for volume savings on supplies. But through our outsourc-
ing firm, we technically pay the same discounted price as they do for
surgery packs and disposables.
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 1 7
Our outsourcing
company charges
us $475 to $525 per
case. If we went it
alone, our per-case
costs would be
around $650.
