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THINKING OF BUYING ...
3 The quality of the blade
When they used the safety knives that would end up being their choice, the physicians were sold primarily on the fact that they had high-quality blades. The highest-quality ophthalmic knives have diamond blades, which are expensive to obtain, delicate to maintain and usually lacking in safety features. Most knives with safety features have stainless steel blades. But we'd found sapphire blades, which didn't require the amount of care and maintenance that diamond blades do, and also had safety guards. It wasn't all-things-to-all-people, but it was pretty close.
4 Cost per case
That they were reusable was another strong selling point. When your case mix is largely cataracts, your business is driven by Medicare reimbursements. When costs go up, your revenues go down. Single-use blades eliminate reprocessing, between-use damage and cross-contamination, and give you a fresh blade every time. When we tallied the reusable blades' uses, we found that their sharpness held up as their cost-per-case outdid disposable products. Plus, their cleaning and sterilization requirements were not complicated.
5 Who'll be the user?
If you're planning to adopt safety knives, it might be advisable to seek the support of your younger physicians. As with surgical technology, they're likely to be more familiar with the use of safety features and the need for them. Of our 3 surgeons, 2 are within a decade of retirement, while the third is just about a decade past residency. Keeping in mind that their younger partner will someday be in charge of the practice, the elder partners gave him a bit more weight in the