RN, BSN, the center's clinical director. "They also take care of all the
maintenance and supplies, so I don't have to worry about it."
Yes, the cataract outsourcing business isn't what it used to be. What
started a decade or so ago as a fairly straightforward premise — pro-
viding phaco machines and microscopes and the technicians to help
run them to facilities that wanted to host cataract cases without
upfront capital equipment costs — has evolved. Now, leading cataract
outsourcing companies like Sightpath Medical and Vantage
Outsourcing are doing much more. They're renting out femtosecond
lasers as well as phaco machines. They're also providing disposable
supplies, managing maintenance contracts and even working with
facilities that own their own femto lasers to help them manage costs
and turn laser cataracts into a profitable enterprise.
"They may own the equipment, but not feel they have the technical
expertise to do the cases," says Christopher Swing, CFO of Vantage
Outsourcing. "That's one of the things we add — that technician who
spends 12 to 18 days a month in surgery and works alongside cataract
surgeons everywhere."
Perfect opportunity
In the pre-femto days, "life was pretty simple" for ophthalmologists,
says Joel Gaslin, executive vice president of sales and marketing for
Sightpath Medical. "Most facilities were accustomed to buying a
phaco machine for $45,000 to $50,000." Granted, they also needed a
microscope and maybe a backup phaco, and they'd have other ongo-
ing expenses, "but it took maybe a quarter of a million dollars to get in
the game," says Mr. Gaslin, "and they'd be able to do reimbursed pro-
cedures."
The femto laser complicated things, with its hefty $375,000 to
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