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$100,000 annual savings per Operating Room

Reusable scopes come with 6 buckets of cost that make visualization expensive.

It starts with a capital purchase.

  • $135k–$165k list price
  • >45% standard discount
  • 3 procurement routes

Cap ex payment — the detail

  • Arthroscopic instrumentation lists at $135,000–$165,000, with a standard discount above 45%.
  • Purchase tends to invite large discounts forced on the vendor by the customer.
  • Lease shifts capital expense to operating expense — operating leases have become more popular.
  • Placed capital (consignment) is placed at no charge and paid for through consumables and implants. Programs are losing popularity as minimum commitments are rarely met and must be reconciled.
  • Reusable arthroscopes have a finite usage lifespan, so the capital payment is predictable — and recurring.

A service contract, every month.

  • $3k–$8k per month
  • Year 2 typical start
  • $600–$1,500 per refurbishment

Maintenance & service — the detail

  • Service agreements run $3,000–$8,000 per month, typically beginning in year two.
  • The majority services the reusable scopes and image capture system; after year two the camera head increases the cost.
  • A reusable scope averages 40–60 uses before it requires refurbishment — and can be as few as 30.
  • Refurbishment costs $600–$1,500 per arthroscope, and buys roughly 20 more uses.
  • Refurbishment requires loaner scopes to keep the schedule running: $300–$400 per day, or $900 per week.

There is reprocessing, after every single case.

  • 35 steps to clean and sterilize
  • ~100 min technician labor
  • $192–$384 per procedure

Sterilization & reprocessing — the detail

  • 35 separate steps to clean and sterilize: disassembly, cleaning, rinsing, disinfection, drying, inspection, lubrication, sterilization, repackaging.
  • ~100 minutes of skilled technician labor per case — arthroscopic instrumentation is documented at 90–100 minutes.
  • Cost per arthroscopy instrument tray ≈$64, at 3–6 trays per procedure.
  • That puts reprocessing at ≈$192–$384 per procedure, before anything goes wrong.
  • Post-COVID reprocessing labor costs are 20–30% higher than the pre-COVID studies that documented them.

The SLIM study (A.P. Adamczyk et al., The Journal of Arthroplasty, 2022) documented an “optimized” tray reprocessing cost of $37.60 at 45 minutes — technician, energy, and material cost combined. Reprocessing costs vary by facility.

Setup and teardown, includes time and risk.

  • 2× assembled, then broken down
  • 3 scopes, camera heads, cables
  • Up to 15 min lost to the workflow

Setup & teardown — the detail

  • Every case requires the scope, camera head, and light cables to be assembled, draped, checked — then broken down again.
  • It is the most predictable bucket of the six, and the most expensive if it isn’t done efficiently every single time it’s performed.
  • Single-use reduces OR setup and teardown to a few simple steps, worth up to 15 minutes per case.

Delays due to unplanned faulty scopes.

  • Unbudgeted it never appears on the quote
  • Mid-schedule the patient is already in the room
  • Cascading delays, cancellations, chasing equipment

In-op delay — the detail

  • When sterilization, setup, or service falls short on a scope that needed all three to be perfect, the failure surfaces in the room.
  • Delayed cases and cancelled cases, with the whole day’s schedule behind them.
  • Someone leaves the room to chase working equipment; an in-op scope replacement carries its own cost.
  • It doesn’t happen every case — which is exactly why it never appears on a forecast.

And the one that leaves the building.

  • 35 steps one bad step is enough
  • ~100 min repeated, if it’s caught
  • Beyond the OR the cost follows the patient

Infection — the detail

  • Each of the 35 reprocessing steps is critical. If one is done poorly or incorrectly, the entire 100-minute process has to be repeated.
  • If it isn’t caught, a patient infection becomes possible — contamination risk is the direct consequence of imperfect reprocessing, not a separate hazard.
  • The cost extends past the OR: other facilities may end up addressing the needs of an infected patient.
  • The least frequent bucket and, per case affected, the most expensive.

Six buckets. Every year, every month, every case.

Up to $1,000 per case — just for the scope.

Pristine eliminates all six.

One per-kit price.

Click a bucket to see all the details.

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In-op delay

Bucket 5’s in-op delays can have a domino effect

When visualization breaks down in a case, the case is delayed. This delay can affect the entire facility.

Case 1
Dr. A
Case 2
Dr. B
Case 3
Dr. C
Case 4
Dr. D
Case 1 begins at 7:00, as scheduled.
case runs as planned case runs, started late the case that fell behind schedule

A new scope never delays anything.

Find out which buckets you’re still paying for.

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