cost of admission." He puts
the per-unit price tag at
$200,000 to $350,000. Although
the upfront investment is sig-
nificant — and this does not
include the ongoing costs
associated with disposables,
which he estimates at "hun-
dreds of dollars per case" —
image-guided ENT could very
well be a billable item, depending on the insurance contract.
"The cost is acceptable, but what value can you put on a person's
life?" he says. "It's an investment in quality patient care. It's also an
insurance issue, because it shows you're taking steps to avoid compli-
cations."
Dare Underwood Meeks, RN, MSN, CASC, the administrator of
Outpatient CareCenter in Birmingham, Ala., agrees that most surgical
facilities invest in image-guided ENT for reasons other than financial.
Her facility, which has 8 ORs and 1 procedure room, has 3 ENT surgi-
cal navigation
systems.
"It's all about surgical performance," says Ms. Meeks. "Whether we
use it for a specific case is up to the doctor's discretion, and there is a
cost associated with it per case, so you have to weigh that along with
reimbursement rates to ensure you stay solvent."
That having been said, the addition of a third surgical navigation
system helped facilitate, if not drive up, her center's ENT case vol-
ume. The center added 2 ENT surgeons — one in 2014, the other the
following year — thereby growing the surgical staff from 5 to 7.
Before they came on board, ENT accounted for about 12% of the cen-
5 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7
• INVEST Consider the "high cost of admission" for image-
guided ENT an investment in quality patient care.
