The cost to the hospital for the study done, without staffing and without paper costs--we tallied up the costs for the six patients we did--was about $450 per patient. You then have to add the costs of the technicians and radiologists, the paper costs, and the admitting costs and all that nonsense. On that basis, I've been quoted as saying that the cost is $1,500, because I like to leave a margin. I've no idea what the cost of putting a patient through a hospital system is.
There's one caveat, though, where the cost can go up. Dr. Zamboni is saying that in some patients, a cutting catheter needs to be used to facilitate the angioplasty. A cutting catheter costs $1,200. The standard cost for the actual high-pressure angioplasty device is $189.