Editor's Note Giving monthly cost feedback scorecards to surgeons was associated with significantly reduced surgical supply costs, without negatively affecting patient outcomes in this study. Of 249 surgeons representing 10 specialties, 63 were in the intervention group and 186 were in the control group. Surgeons in the intervention group each…

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Editor's Note Hospital and surgeon payments for routine general and orthopedic surgical procedures vary greatly, this study finds. Hospital payments averaged $12,744 for general surgery procedures and $22,386 for orthopedic procedures. Orthopedic surgeon reimbursement on average was twice as high as general surgeon payments ($2,349 vs $1,191). Postoperative complications resulted…

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Editor's Note Patients who were readmitted to a nonindex hospital after having emergency general surgery were significantly more likely to have had their index surgery at a large, teaching, safety-net hospital, this study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, finds. Readmission to a nonindex hospital was independently associated with mortality…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 1 released a final rule that revises the hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) and ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system for CY 2017. According to the rule, hospital off-campus facilities will no longer be paid the same…

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Editor's Note The Leapfrog Group on October 31 released it’s biannual hospital safety report card. Of 2,812 facilities graded, 844 received an A grade, 658 received a B, 954 received a C, 157 received a D, and 20 received an F. According to Leapfrog, the measures used by Leapfrog, Medicare,…

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Editor's Note Patient level factors dominated the increased readmission risks after colorectal surgery at minority-serving hospitals, while hospital factors were less contributory, this study finds. Patient factors accounted for 65% of the increase in odds for readmission, and hospital-level factors accounted for 40%. Inpatient mortality was significantly greater at minority-serving…

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Editor's Note On-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are equally safe and effective, this study finds. At 5 years there was no significant difference between on-pump and off-pump CABG in combined rates of death, stroke, myocardial infarction, renal failure, or subsequent revascularization procedures (23.6% vs 23.1%). There also…

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Editor's Note In this study, bariatric surgery for obese adolescents was shown to be cost-effective if assessed over a time period of 5 years, but not in shorter time frames. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of bariatric surgery vs no surgery was $155,000 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) when assessed over…

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Trends such as bundled payment models, adding service lines, and increased competition among providers are just some of the challenges facing today’s OR business leaders. Year over year growth of the annual OR Business Management Conference attests to the need for expert advice on the increasingly complex world of budgets,…

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Recent developments, including the push to outpatient services, increased consumer engagement, and a focus on outcomes, have made ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) well positioned in the healthcare marketplace. But as with any marketplace, it takes bold thinking and thoughtful strategy to ensure an ASC stands out to consumers, physicians, and…

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