Brian DeRubertis (Los Angeles, USA) talks to Vascular News about the benefits and challenges of starting and running an office-based lab (OBL), which he outlined during his presentation at the recent Pacific Northwest Endovascular Conference (PNEC, 27–28 May, Seattle, USA).
There are “many benefits” of running an OBL, notes DeRubertis, including “physician flexibility, autonomy and independence in the way physicians can care for patients”. The most important benefit however, explains DeRubertis, is to patients. “In my opinion there is an increased degree of safety in many cases”, as well as a level of “familiarity” which “helps some of the more elderly and frail patients who are often very intimidated and stressed by going in to the hospital setting.”
DeRubertis believes that there have “not been significant changes” in reimbursement over the last few years and highlights the need to always be aware of any changes so that physicians “make sure that reimbursement is enough to sustain the OBL model”.
He concludes by discussing the relationship between OBLs and COVID-19, noting that the number of OBLs and those treated in this setting have increased as a result of the pandemic. Having an OBL has “expanded the ability to manage some of the problems that were urgent and could not be delayed”.
