OBJECTIVES:Optical biometers acquire anatomical measurement of eye for intraocular lens selection before cataract surgery. Patients failing acquisition with optical biometer undergo ultrasound biometry thus increasing evaluation time and cost. This study compared time and healthcare utilization due to acquisition failures with different optical biometers: ARGOS,LENSTAR and IOLMaster 500. METHODS:An economic budget impact model from a private practice perspective was developed. For input parameters, acquisition failure rates (4.0% for ARGOS, 21.0% for LENSTAR and 23.0% for IOLMaster 500) from a prospective observational study conducted in a private practice (n=107 eyes) were used. With ARGOS, 5 minutes were utilized for performing biometry (for both eyes), and 10 minutes were utilized when either IOLMaster 500 or LENSTAR was used. While 5 minutes were utilized in transferring acquisition failures for ultrasound biometry, 10 minutes were utilized for performing ultrasound biometry (for both eyes). The technician costs ($35.86 per hour) were sourced from publicly available data. RESULTS:The economic budget impact model shows that for 1,500 annual measurements performed in the private practice, ARGOS use could result in substantially fewer measurements (n=60) requiring ultrasound biometry compared to LENSTAR (n=315) and IOLMaster 500 (n=345). With low acquisition failures and shorter acquisition time (5 minutes for successful measurement in both eyes), ARGOS use could save up to 20 minutes of time per patient in cases failing the first biometry measurement with either LENSTAR or IOLMaster 500, which leads to cost savings of USD $3,048 vs. LENSTAR, and cost savings of USD $3,407 vs. IOLMaster 500. CONCLUSIONS:ARGOS and its lower acquisition failure rate compared to IOLMaster 500 and LENSTAR avoided additional ultrasound measurements which leads to economic benefits to centers in the United States. The acquisition failure rate is also reportedly lower for ARGOS vs. IOLMaster 700, however, further economic analysis will be needed to demonstrate the economic benefit.