Article preview from Medtech Insight - September, 2012
When femtosecond lasers for cataract surgery hit the market in early 2011, it was apparent that that they would bring unprecedented precision to the procedure. The key questions surrounding this emerging field quickly shifted to commercial viability: how would US cataract surgeons and facilities be able to pay for this expensive new technology in a procedure that is reimbursed almost entirely by Medicare, and therefore subject to strict billing limitations? A survey of early laser adopters in the US, detailed below, suggests that surgeons are successfully navigating these regulatory hurdles and incorporating the new lasers into their practices.
Article preview from Medtech Insight - September, 2012
Femtosecond (FS) lasers represent the first truly disruptive technology in cataract surgery since the introduction of ultrasonic phacoemulsification in the late 1960s and foldable intraocular lenses (IOLs) in the 1980s. Developments in this arena have come at a rapid pace: laser cataract technology was formally introduced to the ophthalmic community only three years ago, in late 2009, and the first lasers became commercially available in the beginning of 2011. (See "Laser Cataract Surgery: Sorting Out The Business Case" — Medtech Insight, December 2011.)
Because it became apparent very early on that FS lasers would bring unprecedented precision to cataract surgery, the key questions surrounding this emerging field quickly shifted from clinical and technical issues to questions about commercial viability and business models. Specifically, it was not clear how US cataract surgeons and facilities would be able to pay for this expensive new laser technology in a procedure that is reimbursed almost entirely by Medicare, and therefore subject to strict billing limitations. A survey of early laser adopters in the US, detailed below, suggests that surgeons are successfully navigating these regulatory hurdles and incorporating the new lasers into their practices.
FS lasers have been used in ophthalmic surgery for the past decade to create corneal flaps for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), the most commonly performed refractive surgery procedure. These ultra-fast lasers work by delivering closely spaced spots of energy beneath the tissue surface; by aligning hundreds of thousands of these pulses, cleavage planes are created within tissues without burning or ablating.
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