says Dr. Menger. "Do we want to be a cutting-edge surgery center
that's pushing the field, an early adopter of technology? Or do we
want to watch other people do this while we do something that's been
done in the past?" He adds that having a robot can impact your payer
mix: "Are we seeing X percentage of Medicare patients, and now
we're going to be able to see more, because patients are drawn to the
robot?"
4. Less exposure to radiation.
Dr. Lieberman says his robot has
enabled a sharp reduction in the amount of X-rays needed to perform
his surgeries. His robot's pre-planning software incorporates a pre-op
scan of the patient that lets him map a game plan of exactly what his
team needs to do. Once in the OR, one more scan is taken to ensure
the pre-op and perioperative scans line up. And that's it.
"We extrapolate physiologically the risks of radiation to the patient
and to the operating room personnel every time you take an X-ray in
the operating room," he says. "By only taking 2 X-rays, it's going to be
less risk than taking the 10, 12, 15 that we used to for each screw we
put in."
5. Associated costs.
Don't focus solely on the capital expense
when assessing potential costs of a robot, says Dr. Menger. You must
also account for the expenses that come with operating and maintain-
ing the robot, which can vary across the available brands. For exam-
ple, certain robots need other adjunct technologies, like an interopera-
tive CT scan, as well as one-time-use instruments.
There's also a startup cost of sorts associated with purchasing a
robot: training, education, and learning how to properly and efficient-
ly handle the machine. Dr. Lieberman estimates an experienced sur-
geon will need 5 to 10 cases to be comfortable using a robot in the
OR, and up to 30 cases to get comfortable with the planning method
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