7 tips for cutting ophthalmology costs
By Stephen W. Earnhart, MS
President and CEO
Earnhart and Associates Dallas
1. Update your MD preference cards by auditing what is actually picked and popped onto the back table vs. what is actually used. There have been big changes in ophthalmology over the years. Your cards are probably outdated.
2. Price each item and discuss it with the surgeon. Most do not know the cost of what they are using and may be willing to eliminate things they don’t require anymore.
3. Who does the "blocks" for the surgeon? If the surgeons do them themselves, you could be wasting valuable time. See if they will train anesthesia personnel to do this (reimbursable) anesthesia function.
4. Have they considered using "eye drops" instead of costly injections? My own experience tells me that 75-80% of the time, drops work great. The time lost in block- ing a patient for whom the drops didn’t work is still considerably less than blocking everyone.
5. Is your surgeon using sutures to close incisions? Many have gone to no-stitch closures. Yours may have, but you still may be popping sutures on the back table.
6. Are you using two rooms to accommodate your "faster" (relatively speaking) surgeon? Giving surgeons the option of going from room to room allows you the ability to do more in less time.
7. What are you paying for your intraocular lens? I have found that the highest price out there is about $60. (I am sure your vendor will disagree.)
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