Influence of co-payment levels on patient and surgeon acceptance of advanced technology intraocular lenses.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate patients' willingness to pay for advanced technology intraocular lenses and surgeons' willingness to recommend them.


METHODS
In this study, 370 cataract surgeons and 700 patients undergoing cataract surgery from seven countries underwent online interviews in which they were shown unbranded profiles of three advanced technology intraocular lenses (ie, biconvex toric aspheric optic, symmetric biconvex diffractive optic, and biconvex diffractive aspheric toric) and asked to indicate their willingness to accept (for patients) or suggest (for surgeons) each lens. Acceptance was assessed assuming there was either no co-payment or co-payments of €500 to €1,500 +15%.


RESULTS
All three lenses were widely accepted by patients, with 68% to 99% indicating acceptance when there was no co-payment. In contrast, surgeons' willingness to suggest them was markedly lower (20% to 43%). Both patients' acceptance of the lenses and surgeons' willingness to suggest them decreased with increasing co-payment levels to 19% to 74% (patients) and 5% to 31% (surgeons) at the highest co-payment levels.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a marked discrepancy between patients' acceptance of the three lenses and surgeons' willingness to suggest them. Although patients' acceptance is high, it decreases with increasing out-of-pocket expenditure. Manufacturers should communicate the relative benefits and costs of their lenses to both surgeons and patients.
Francesco
F
Carones
Michael C
MC
Knorz
Daniel
D
Jackson
Ali
A
Samiian
D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000191:economics*; D005382:Financing, Personal; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D007910:Lenses, Intraocular; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011474:Prosthesis Design