Currently, health insurers pay for FDA-approved robotic surgeries at comparable rates as those paid for human-conducted operations, but that could change as more data is gathered and analyzed to demonstrate when robotic procedures give the greatest benefits at the lowest costs, according to the report.
Touted as having shorter patient recovery times and fewer post-operative complications, some studies such as one published in the February issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found the robotic method was more expensive than other forms of minimally invasive surgery performed with human hands, without significant improvements in other patient comfort or health measures.
Several medical groups, including the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have claimed current research does not show enough evidence that robotic surgery is more beneficial, cheaper or safer than other alternatives.
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