for many facilities, but vendors now offer a number of manageable
payment options.
"Companies have gotten smarter about financing. Facilities now
have several programs to choose from," says Sharona Ross, MD,
FACS, professor of surgery at the University of Central Florida (UCF),
and director of minimally invasive surgery and surgical endoscopy at
Advent Health Tampa. "You don't have to pay for everything up front."
Without factoring in the upfront investment, robotic inguinal her-
nia repairs are actually less expensive than traditional laparoscopic
procedures because the latter requires surgeons to use several
expensive disposables like balloon spacemakers and tackers, items
you don't need with the robot. If you're a facility that can do a high
volume of these procedures, the savings add up. But for the time-
being, outpatient reimbursement for inguinal hernia repairs —
Medicare reimburses in the $1,700 range for ASCs and most in-net-
work insurers pay about the same — still don't cover the fixed costs.
But as these procedures grow in popularity, that could easily
change. Plus, it's hard to place a number on the marketing value
robotic surgery adds to your facility.
If you do opt to go the robotic hernia repair route, efficiency is the
name of the game. You should be able to do these cases quickly. A
J U L Y 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 6 5
Medicare Reimbursement
Procedure Type CPT Code ASC
Reimbursement Rate
Hospital
Reimbursement Rate
Xen gel stent for
open angle glaucoma
0449T $2,636 $3,640
Spinal cord stimulator (SCS) 63650 $4,499 $5,979
Laparoscopic inguinal
hernia repair
49650 $2,129 $4,595
TLIF 22630 Not currently reimbursed Not currently reimbursed
Total thyroidectomy 60220 $2,129 $4,595
