While chemistry previously ruled hospital clinical laboratories, in today’s labs immunoassay is equally important. Indeed, these blended systems represent the lab’s largest capital outlay.
Pricing for chemistry immunoassay analyzers depends heavily on the focus of the laboratory and the type of back-up instrument used. Laboratories that lean more heavily toward immunoassays can expect a higher price tag than those with more of a chemistry focus. For some smaller laboratories, it may be practical to exclude immunoassay altogether and only offer kit-based tests, while outsourcing the remaining tests to a reference laboratory.
Hospitals with high volumes that invest in a mirror image backup can expect their capital costs to double. However, with the cost increase comes a higher level of service and a minimized risk of downtime. Utilizing hand-held systems or a reference laboratory as backup can decrease costs but may result in a lower level of service in a downtime situation. Little or no backup is the cheapest route but also risky, as prolonged downtimes can decimate a laboratory’s reputation and may cause physician dissatisfaction. In many cases, the choice of back-up instrumentation is almost more critical than the brand of chemistry immunoassay analyzer.
Providers can expect a large price increase for pre- and post-analytical automation, normally upwards of $1 million to $2 million, but automation can decrease operating costs and the need for highly skilled laboratory personnel. As the field shifts away from medical technologists toward more onsite service laboratory personnel, we will see automation and knowledge-based software continue to dramatically reshape the chemistry immunoassay analyzer market.
Reimbursement for these systems has remained fairly steady over the last few years and is now largely tied to inpatient stay.
Reagent recalls are fairly commonplace and considered part of the territory. While FDA recalls affecting critical tests have caused major problems for some vendors, sooner or later FDA recalls seem to hit all chemistry immunoassay analyzers in some capacity. Be sure to add verbiage to your contract to give you an out if the FDA recalls become overwhelming or unusual. The same goes for reagent shortages and backorders. You don’t want to be left holding a chemistry analyzer for which reagents are not available.
Chemistry Immunoassay Analyzer
Low High Average Price
$207,000 $325,000 $250,000
System Service Support Prices
Low High Average Price
$19,000 $35,000 $26,000
Data source: MD Buyline
Please note these numbers have been adjusted to exclude special deals, outliers and unique circumstances.