Potential financial impact of first assistant billing by surgical residents

General surgery residency involves a mixture of 1) education of residents and 2) service by residents. The service that residents provide is not directly reimbursed in our current healthcare system by private healthcare insurance companies. This investigation characterizes the amount of reimbursement a typical resident would be able to collect if residents were allowed to collect for their services as a first assistant. The case logs of residents who graduated over 2 years from our general surgery residency program were reviewed. Data from each resident's last 2 years (post-graduate years 4 and 5) were included in this study. Relative value units (RVUs) for each Current Procedural Terminology code were reviewed. Collections were calculated by multiplying the Medicare conversion factor of $36.7856/RVU, the corresponding RVU, and a "standard" collection rate of 16 per cent for first assistants. There were 13 general surgery residents. These residents provided first assistant help with 91,473 RVUs over 2 years. A total amount of $535,380 could have been collected on first assistant fees for the last 2 years of their residency. Each resident would have been able to collect an average at least $41,414 just for first assistant operative fees. Resident assistance in the operating room provides significant savings for private healthcare insurance companies each year by reducing the need for first assistants. The data demonstrate that private insurance companies receive a considerable amount of pro bono service from residents. Changes in the financing of the current healthcare system in the United States will require educators to examine other sources (i.e., private insurance companies) for support of graduate medication education.