A simplified system for surgical operations: The economics of treating hernia

This paper presents a cost analysis for herniorrhaphies as they are currently performed, as compared with a new plan. The current system utilizes hospital postoperative care. The new plan involves a different utilization of hospital facilities, personnel, drugs, supplies, and postoperative home care. Costs are considerably reduced under this new proposal. Projections reveal that implementation of the new plan with the same level of present expenditures could eliminate 75 percent of the present backlog of hernias over a 10 year time period. Although the cost and disease estimates derive from an experimental study conducted at the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, this model can help meet population health care needs in any country or geographic region by basing the system of services and facilities on epidemiologically derived disease prevalence and incidence rates.