Adopting a portfolio of ultrasonic and advanced bipolar electrosurgery devices from a single manufacturer compared to currently used ultrasonic and advanced bipolar devices: a probabilistic budget impact analysis from a Spanish hospital perspective

• Published in: Journal of medical economics 2023-12, Vol.26 (1), p.179-188
• Main Authors: Piemontese, Alessandra, Cohen, Lucas, Wright, George W. J., Robledinos-Antón, Natalia, Jamous, Nadine, Tommaselli, Giovanni A., Galvain, Thibaut
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: advanced bipolar devices; advanced energy devices; budget impact analysis; Budgets; Electrosurgery; Hospitals; Humans; Monte Carlo simulation; Operating Rooms; ultrasonic scalpel; Ultrasonics
• ISSN: 1369-6998; 1941-837X
• DOI: 10.1080/13696998.2023.2169496

This study created an economic model to calculate whether using modern electrical surgical tools with features to make cutting tissue and stopping bleeding faster and easier could save Spanish hospitals money. The electrical surgery tools from one manufacturer were compared to those from various other companies. Differences in how long surgery took to perform, how long patients stayed in hospital after their surgery, and how many blood transfusions they needed were considered in the model. The model was tested 10,000 times with random changes in the costs and settings used to be surer about the range of possible results. The results showed the devices from one manufacturer could save a Spanish hospital money in almost 80% of model runs and that savings worked out to €236 per surgery. In another analysis, savings were enough to cover the cost of introducing safety devices to remove surgical smoke from the operating room and reusable patient grounding electrodes that prevent some injuries potentially caused by small sticky electrodes. In conclusion, the model showed that Spanish hospitals may be able to save money by switching to the modern electrical surgery tools from Ethicon. Advanced energy devices are commonly used in electrosurgery, including ultrasonic and advanced bipolar (ABP) devices. Smoke evacuation and reusable dispersive electrodes are also utilized during electrosurgery to improve staff and patient safety. This study assessed the budget impact of adopting a portfolio of Ethicon energy devices compared to devices from other manufacturers from a Spanish hospital perspective. The main analysis compared the Ethicon advanced energy device portfolio (ultrasonic and ABP devices) to Non-Ethicon advanced energy devices. It was assumed that 4,000 procedures using one advanced energy device each were performed annually, and the cost impact of operating room time, length of stay, and transfusions were considered. A probabilistic budget impact analysis with 10,000 iterations was conducted for generalizability to other hospitals in Spain and Europe. Secondary analysis assessed whether cost savings from the Ethicon advanced energy device portfolio could offset costs of adopting smoke evacuation and reusable dispersive electrodes (Full Ethicon energy portfolio). In the main analysis, the annual budget impact of introducing the Ethicon advanced energy device portfolio was cost saving in 79.8% of probabilistic iterations (mean: -€945,214; 95% credible interval