tough to fathom, say both
Mr. Gaslin and Mr. Swing,
which opens the door for
additional value-added
service. "Profitability is
what matters, and that's
our battleground — help-
ing people determine all
their costs," says Mr.
Gaslin. "Manufacturer
reps will come in and
say, 'If you do X amount
of cases, you can break
even.' Our tongue-in-
cheek response is to
point out that if someone
were offering you an investment, and said, 'Give me $375,000 and 5
years later, after doing a bunch of work, you'll break even,' you'd
laugh at them. But in the medical world we sometimes think that's a
good deal."
A rep, he says, may provide a pro forma on a femto laser, based on
12 monthly payments and projected volume. "But physicians take
time off — usually 8 to 10 weeks a year. And that changes the math,"
Mr. Gaslin points out. "It's not 12 months a year; it's 10. We have an
app that takes into account vacations and the fact that someone has
to run the device. There are also marketing expenses and other fac-
tors. We help people capture all costs, so they make good compar-
isons."
"Most people don't understand what equipment costs do to their
per-case profitability," adds Mr. Swing. "They buy equipment out of
1 2 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A Y 2 0 1 6
"We're like the
Geek Squad at Best Buy."
— Joel Gaslin, Sightpath Medical
