Private cataract surgery in Canada
November 11, 2011 4:25 PM Subscribe
How much does private cataract surgery cost in B.C.?
My dad lives in the Vancouver area and needs cataract surgery. He's thinking of having it done privately, since he was told the public wait times are around 5 months. Does anyone know how much it typically costs, both for the procedure and for the lens?
I'm sure there's a lot of variation, but we're just looking for a rough price range. My mom had cataract surgery around 20 years ago and it cost $875 per eye - I'm sure it's more expensive now.
My dad lives in the Vancouver area and needs cataract surgery. He's thinking of having it done privately, since he was told the public wait times are around 5 months. Does anyone know how much it typically costs, both for the procedure and for the lens?
I'm sure there's a lot of variation, but we're just looking for a rough price range. My mom had cataract surgery around 20 years ago and it cost $875 per eye - I'm sure it's more expensive now.
Feel like taking a vacation to sunnier climes? I can't begin to count the number of Canadians I've met who came to Palm Springs for cataract surgery. It seems there is a cottage industry targeting senior snowbirds for wintertime cataract surgery down here.
posted by buggzzee23 at 5:00 PM on November 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by buggzzee23 at 5:00 PM on November 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
A doctor friend of mine was telling me just last night that the fees ophthalmologists charge for cataract surgery have remained about the same. The flip side: The procedure used to take 2 hours, then technology reduced that to 1 hour. Today it is down to 7 minutes. But the fee stays the same, so that's $4000 to $6000 per hour.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 5:46 PM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 5:46 PM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
I had cataract surgery in 2006 in Ontario; OHIP covered ALL of the examination, preop tests, surgery, clinic, recovery, drugs (minus a ridiculously small copay, like $1 on a $15 bottle of medicated eye drops) and follow up exam expenses and also covered the standard (toric) IOL implant. I paid $600Cdn to upgrade the lens to one with a built in UV filter. There were three or four other lens options at $1200, $1800, etc up to around 3k which had flexible hinges and other experimental adaptable focus techniques that I didn't go for. As far as I know, I was only paying for the difference in price of the lens from the basic model. On the other hand, I did spend several months waiting for my surgery appointment.
I don't know how much the cost would compare re: OHIP vs British Columbia's plan, covered vs fully private, 2006 vs 2013, but hopefully this helps give you an idea of the lenses at least. In the States you could easy spend five figures on the lens alone.
weapons-grade, at my clinic there were two complete surgery rooms per doctor (around five or six doctors operated the clinic) each staffed by a separate complete surgical team - nurse, anesthesiologist, and physician assistant - which had a designed throughput of one patient every 15 minutes. The surgery itself was a precision timed 8 minute routine which seemed to have about 5 minutes of active surgery and plenty of time allocated for double checking and not rushing. While a patient in operating room A was undergoing the surgery, room B was being prepped with the next patient. The doctor would finish the 8 minute cycle, discard the used gloves, etc, scrub up again in the connecting sterilized hallway, and enter room B just as the next 15 minute cycle began. Meanwhile room A would have the previous patient vacated to recovery, a nursing team would resterilize the whole room (new set of surgical tools, sterilized surgical table wheeled in with next patient, surgical team rescrubs), the next patient was brought in and (re)anesthetized, and the monitors and charts were all hooked up and arranged in time for the doctor to return. A brief introduction to the patient and some quick words of encouragement were all scheduled parts of the eight minute plan.
The doctor would do six hours of surgery like this (ideally treating 24 patients, provided no one had complications), three days a week. The other days were for consulting, pre and post examinations, and teaching at the medical university.
posted by ceribus peribus at 9:42 PM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
I don't know how much the cost would compare re: OHIP vs British Columbia's plan, covered vs fully private, 2006 vs 2013, but hopefully this helps give you an idea of the lenses at least. In the States you could easy spend five figures on the lens alone.
weapons-grade, at my clinic there were two complete surgery rooms per doctor (around five or six doctors operated the clinic) each staffed by a separate complete surgical team - nurse, anesthesiologist, and physician assistant - which had a designed throughput of one patient every 15 minutes. The surgery itself was a precision timed 8 minute routine which seemed to have about 5 minutes of active surgery and plenty of time allocated for double checking and not rushing. While a patient in operating room A was undergoing the surgery, room B was being prepped with the next patient. The doctor would finish the 8 minute cycle, discard the used gloves, etc, scrub up again in the connecting sterilized hallway, and enter room B just as the next 15 minute cycle began. Meanwhile room A would have the previous patient vacated to recovery, a nursing team would resterilize the whole room (new set of surgical tools, sterilized surgical table wheeled in with next patient, surgical team rescrubs), the next patient was brought in and (re)anesthetized, and the monitors and charts were all hooked up and arranged in time for the doctor to return. A brief introduction to the patient and some quick words of encouragement were all scheduled parts of the eight minute plan.
The doctor would do six hours of surgery like this (ideally treating 24 patients, provided no one had complications), three days a week. The other days were for consulting, pre and post examinations, and teaching at the medical university.
posted by ceribus peribus at 9:42 PM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: http://www.boydvision.ca/resources/costs.html
http://www.valleylasereyecentre.com/eye-treatments
There are different kinds so to some extent it depends on which he chooses.
posted by Pomo at 3:41 PM on November 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
http://www.valleylasereyecentre.com/eye-treatments
There are different kinds so to some extent it depends on which he chooses.
posted by Pomo at 3:41 PM on November 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone! So it sounds like the cost should be less than $1000 if he has it done privately, with a basic foldable lens. That's good to know.
I was seeing uninsured US prices in the $3-4K range... but I guess Canadian medicare pays for a lot of it even when it's done in a private clinic.
posted by problemspace at 8:07 PM on November 14, 2011
I was seeing uninsured US prices in the $3-4K range... but I guess Canadian medicare pays for a lot of it even when it's done in a private clinic.
posted by problemspace at 8:07 PM on November 14, 2011
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posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 4:38 PM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]