5 of the Most Expensive Medical Devices5 of the Most Expensive Medical Devices

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5 of the Most Expensive Medical DevicesMay 2014Complaining that medical devices are expensive? Go no further than a $2.5 million PET/CT scanner, or a $270 million MRI machine.Granted, the degree that medical devices contribute to overall healthcare costs in the U.S. and elsewhere is a matter of debate. AdvaMed has pointed out that the costs of implantable medical devices, for instance, have fallen in recent years. The trade association has also pointed out that the costs for most medical devices has increased less than inflation.But other argue strenuously that medical technology is one of the main drivers of healthcare spending. Harvard economists Katherine Baicker and Amitabh Chandra, for instance, have repeatedly pointed out that many hospitals and clinics—especially in the United States—will invest in costly medical equipment without firmly understand how efficient it is from an economic perspective. While some pricey technology can save money overall, they argue that the benefits of expensive items like surgical robotics and proton beam therapy systems lead to "questionable health benefits."Here, we round up five of the most-expensive medical devices, which range in price from hundreds of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars. Read on to find out more.