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M A R C H 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
No matter how hard he crunched the numbers, no matter how many
patients he thought he could convert to laser-assisted refractive sur-
gery with the promise of blade-free precision, there was no way he
could afford to buy a $500,000 laser and have the volume necessary to
make a profit. "It wouldn't work unless I had massive volume — at
least 100 surgeries a month," he says. "I didn't think it would be a wise
investment to buy one."
But Dr. Patterson, a leader in the field of cataract and refractive sur-
gery, didn't give in. He did the next best thing to buying a femtosecond
laser. He went the increasingly popular outsourcing route, leasing a
femtosecond laser and all the people and supplies that come with it
from a mobile cataract services company. A year ago this month Dr.
Patterson performed the first mobile femto cataract case in the
nation.
And now, a year later, without pushing it on patients but by simply
letting them know that femto is an out-of-pocket option for them, Dr.
Patterson says he's converting about 25% of his cataract caseload to
the laser treatment. "There's something about the accuracy of the pro-
cedure," he says. "The laser appeals to people." Dr. Patterson's month-
O P H T H A L M O L O G Y
The Easy Way to Add
Laser Cataracts
Cataract outsourcing companies will bring
the femtosecond laser to you.
Dan O'Connor | Editor-in-Chief
H
e was hooked the first time he played with a
femtosecond laser. "I have to admit: It was
very, very cool. Awfully impressive," says
ophthalmologist Larry E. Patterson, MD, the
medical director for Eye Centers of
Tennessee. Cold, hard economics quickly tempered his
enthusiasm. "How could we possibly afford it?" he
remembers thinking. "It looks interesting, but it seems
terribly expensive and a lot of trouble. And is there any
evidence that it's worth it for patients?"
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