https://improvement.nhs.uk/resources/national-tariff-1719/
This workbook has a sheet for A&E treatment. https://improvement.nhs.uk/uploads/documents/Copy_of_Annex_A...
A&E prices 2017/18 Return to contents
Tariff (£)
HRG code HRG name Type 1 and 2 Departments Type 3 Departments
Emergency Medicine, Any Investigation with Category 5 Treatment 322 63
Emergency Medicine, Category 3 Investigation with Category 4 Treatment 293 63
Emergency Medicine, Category 3 Investigation with Category 1-3 Treatment 212 63
Emergency Medicine, Category 2 Investigation with Category 4 Treatment 192 63
Emergency Medicine, Category 2 Investigation with Category 3 Treatment 161 63
Emergency Medicine, Category 1 Investigation with Category 3-4 Treatment 113 63
Emergency Medicine, Category 2 Investigation with Category 2 Treatment 141 63
Emergency Medicine, Category 2 Investigation with Category 1 Treatment 130 63
Emergency Medicine, Category 1 Investigation with Category 1-2 Treatment 91 63
Emergency Medicine, Dental Care 82 63
Emergency Medicine, No Investigation with No Significant Treatment 63 63
Emergency Medicine, Patient Dead On Arrival 91 63
Prices in GBP.Apologies if I'm way off on this, I'm by no means an expert or have much experience/knowledge on this topic, but attempting to make some sense of it for comparison.
For a 'simple' thing like an internal titanium staple to attach to bone, it'll be about 10 years before the 'go/no-go' decision from the FDA. All the effort could go up in smoke 10 years in. That's ~10 years of investments, rat tests, lab research and upkeep, human trials and long term surveillance, paying the engineers and accountants, etc. That investment has to be re-couped plus a profit for the trouble.
The nice thing, though, is that once the medical-thingy is proofed, it is a near monopoly on it. So the re-coup is not bad. But the risk is pretty great. SV talks about risk and reward a lot, but they have nothing on bioengineering start-ups (that really do save lives and change the world).
CT scan is expensive. Each scan (CT, ultrasound) is reviewed by a radio-logical expert (i.e. doctor), plus taking up an ER bed for many hours, lab work, IV medications, etc... It adds up pretty quickly.
I'd love to know how much this actually costs in say Canada, or the UK, and I don't mean to the patient (I know they wouldn't pay much if anything), but the actual cost on the system.