Medical Innovation Rejected, Too Affordable,
by Alice Greene, 3/30/16
When health
insurance companies are willing to pay for everything, doctors, hospitals, and
urgent care centers have zero incentive to use less expensive methods.
The rejection
of the anesthesiology robot is a perfect example of such unchecked spending.
Anesthesiologists have a vitally important job: they keep you unconscious, pain
free, and - most importantly - alive.
Enter Sedasys,
the anesthesiologist robot that brings a $2,000 anesthesiology procedure down
to just $200. The only problem is that nobody wants it. When hospitals can
get their hands on $2,000 per procedure from an insurance company, why settle
for $200?
Sedasys’
creator, Johnson & Johnson, will stop selling the robot due to poor
sales. This incredible piece of machinery would have been able to
administer accurate anesthesia for routine procedures and continue monitoring a
patient’s vitals throughout the process.
A single nurse
or clinician would have been able to operate the robot. The cost of hiring
a trained professional for routine anesthesia would be eliminated, but the
amount of money pulled in by facility would also decrease.
The Sedasys
robot was approved by the FDA in 2013. But according to the Washington
Post, it “was never welcomed by human anesthesiologists. Before it even hit
the market, the American Society of Anesthesiologists campaigned against it,
backing down only once the machine’s potential uses were limited to routine
procedures such as colonoscopies.”
Many Americans
avoid regular exams like colonoscopies because they are unaffordable. These
procedures, however, are an important preventative measure when it comes to
cancer and other diseases. Early diagnosis could mean the difference
between life and death – and a whole lot of money.
Sedasys would
not have put anesthesiologists out of work. What it would have done was make
routine treatments far more affordable for those visiting clinics and community
hospitals.
Editor's note: We picked this as an example of
how screwed up our health system and why prices can't do anything but go up.
When solutions like this are rejected so that hospitals and insurance companies
will make more money, things need to change.
Comments
The
Insurance industry is a single-cell animal with no brain and 3 working parts. They charge premiums, pay claims and increase
premiums.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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