$55,000 to $70,000 for combina-
tion
systems. Facility reimbursement
rates for their procedures aren't
extremely generous, with the
national averages for common
laser treatments ranging from
about $180 to $240. On the plus
side, however, case costs are very
low — just numbing drops and
some minimal disposables — and
the cases don't take a large
amount of time to carry out. As a
result, ophthalmic lasers can con-
tribute nicely to a facility's profit
margin. A moderate amount of
cases will pay for the equipment
over the course of 3 or 4 years,
and its usable life will long out-
last that timeframe.
3. The appeal of shared technology.
A surgery center — particularly a
physician-owned one — that
makes a capital investment in an
ophthalmic laser centralizes the
cost of the technology and makes
it more accessible to its physi-
cians, who might not be able to
justify the individual acquisition
