What's the Value Prop to the Doc

Hey there - there is a good chance this is my naivety, but what's the economic rational to support the sale of this. Surgical navigation in the past never took off because of failure to get additional reimbursement. Is this, along with MAKO, purely a "spend more for better outcomes" play? If you are selling, how to you convince a doc, ASC, or hospital to commit a substantial amount of money for something that doesn't bring in more revenue... What am i missing?

 

Better alignment & supposedly better results ie patient ROM and implant survivorship. Given the huge increase in joint replacement expected over the next 20 years there's a niche if someone can do it right. UKR were never as popular as TKR. It's a difficult surgery but if you can achieve reproducible results and a near perfect placement it gets interesting. You can expand the Uni market. Many patients had been told they just had to wait, often in pain, until their knee got bad enough for a TKR. UKR is a lot less traumatic than a TKR which includes more bonesawing/grinding and involves the severing of 2 ligaments.

Seeing it as a marketing and recruiting tool as well. Hospitals are seeing potential patients seeking out makoplasties at their crosstown rivals. HMA has installed the Mako at many of it's hospitals and claim they are seeing outside surgeons seeking OR time on the units. The "halo effect" comes into play as well. Some patients come in seeking makoplasty but are ineligible due to the advanced extent of their condition and wind up having TKR at the same hospital. Blue Belt hopes to carve out a niche in the multitude of community hospitals that don't have the volume or budget of the larger hospitals and want a cheaper handheld unit with tracking ability that can perform UKR and possibly hips or other joints some day.

 

Robot is a bit of a stretch. Hand held "smart" burr (supposed to retract when the surgeon moves it to a virtual boundary). So why the need for a Blue Belt specialist in the OR?

 

Blue Belts going after the little guy but will the little guy that does few unis want to spend the capital? They can't afford the MAKO and the bigger players with bigger budgets want an established platform, like Mako's RIO with knees & hips (including direct anterior approach capability) available now, not "coming someday".

Blue Belt's CEO in the Post Gazette, 2012:

"This is a tool for the mid-sized hospital, the community hospital," Mr. Timko said. "The goal with us is that the surgeon who does 10 [partial-knee replacement surgeries] a year will have the same outcomes as the guy who does 100 a year." - Eric Timko, Blue Belt CEO

 

What clinical data does Blue Belt have and how does a NAVIO / Navigation System refer to itself as ROBOTIC? Obvious FALSE claims which will end up in the courts soon. That's why surgery centers are buying the system for the term Robotic- take it away they loose all there perceived clinical advantages even though none have been PROVEN clinically.