The average cost of operating room tables increased 14% in June as providers showed a growing interest in models used for hybrid operating rooms and robotic surgery suites, according to the latest Modern Healthcare/ECRI Institute Technology Price Index.
The index looks at monthly and annual price data for about 30 supply and capital items purchased by hospitals and other healthcare providers, based on three-month rolling averages.
OR tables cost an average of $71,007 between April and June. The increase in average cost is being driven by demand for a table model that integrates with Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci Xi robot, said Kevin Lee, project lead for ECRI's SELECTplus procurement advisory service.
Da vinci-integrated tables cost an average of $90,000 during that time period. The table, made by Trumpf Medical, was introduced last year and allows surgeons to reposition the table during a procedure through the da Vinci platform.
But providers must have the latest version of the da Vinci software, which in some cases means a $50,000 software upgrade in addition to purchasing the $90,000 table.
The robots themselves are extremely expensive, generally costing around $2 million, but that high cost isn't stopping new robot buyers from purchasing the new table, Lee said. An estimated 75% of those who buy the da Vinci Xi robot said they intend to purchase the table as well.
ECRI's experts are in the process of evaluating the da Vinci integrated table to understand if there's any additional clinical benefit that comes with the integration. Providers have previously used standard OR tables and repositioned them separately.
Hybrid OR tables, which are used in surgical suites that include imaging equipment, cost about $200,000 during the last three months. Traditionally, most of the tables have been bought for cardiovascular “c-arm” x-ray systems, but there has also been increased interest in buying tables for intraoperative CT scanners, Lee said.
Specialty tables are making up a growing share of the market. Hybrid and robotic tables now represent 30% of all interest in OR tables, when at the same time last year they only represented 10%, according to Lee.
The major players in the OR table market include Maquet, Skytron, Steris, Stryker and Trumpf, which was acquired by Hill-Rom in 2014.
