It’s really common to associate all things medical with a hospital. However, in recent years there’s been a big drive to streamline services and make it easier for patients to access timely, highly specialized care, and cataract surgery is a prime example.
Enter the regional cataract center—private eye clinics that run day in, day out, with experienced surgeons performing 10, 15, or even 20 procedures per day. This high volume is possible thanks to both the clinician’s expertise and the benefit of the latest, cutting-edge technology that further speeds up the process.
But are they “better” than a hospital? Well, let’s take a look at the differences between them.
To accurately compare the two, we need to look at various different factors. These are:
Most hospitals are large, multi-disciplinary locations, which can be loud, busy, and potentially stressful. Cataract operations are usually performed in shared facilities, meaning they are set up for multiple procedures, rather than solely for cataract surgery.
Regional cataract centers are typically much smaller and are usually in the same location as the surgeon’s office. They are far more likely to be equipped with the latest technology needed to perform the more advanced, laser-assisted cataract surgery, which is required if you want to have any of the latest premium intraocular lenses (IOLs).
As you can imagine, the more a clinician practices their trade, the more expert they become. A surgeon who’s performing hundreds of cataract procedures per month will naturally be slicker than someone only carrying out a few.
While we’re certainly not saying that outpatient cataract procedures performed at a general hospital aren’t as good as those at a regional cataract center (many expert surgeons also work out of these locations), the sheer volume of operations performed at a specialist center leads to teams that have honed their craft to maximize efficiency.
Therefore, you will likely have less of a wait time at such a center, rather than at a hospital that also has to fit them around other types of medical operations.
As with any facility that’s dedicated to a certain niche, it tends to become more cost-efficient. Whether you’re funding your cataract operation yourself, through Medicare, private insurance, or a combination of these, regional cataract centers tend to be less expensive than a hospital.
One major advantage of a hospital environment is that other facilities are on the doorstep. This includes an ED, ITU, and other departments that a regional cataract center doesn’t typically have.
For this reason, extremely challenging cataract operations, such as those that might require a general anesthetic for whatever reason (not the norm, in the vast majority of cases) may (and we stress, “may”) be better carried out in a hospital environment. This might also be the case if you also have other coexisting, serious medical conditions with the potential for needing emergency care.
However, for most routine cataract procedures in otherwise healthy people, a regional cataract center is often the easiest and best choice for everyone.
Last, but not least, let’s look at how satisfied people are with care at either location. Both tend to be high, but for all the above reasons it seems that patients report even better outcomes at smaller, regional centers than from hospitals.
Naturally, wherever your operation takes place, you’re going to want to choose a cataract surgeon who best suits your needs. And this is where we’ve made it easy for you.
Head over to https://www.bestcataractsurgeonreviews.com/ and in a couple of clicks you can search by area, plus see each individual’s verified reviews from patients all in one easy-to-access location.
