Hot spotting surgical patients undergoing hepatopancreatic procedures

The burden of health care spending in the United States is a major concern, as health care costs have exponentially increased during the last three decades. The objective of the current study was to investigate the degree of cost-concentration among Medicare patients undergoing liver and pancreatic surgery.

Medicare claims data from 2013 to 2015 were used to identify patients undergoing elective liver and pancreatic resections. Patients were divided into four groups: 1) non-complex pancreatic procedures; 2) complex pancreatic procedures; 3) non-complex liver procedures; and 4) complex liver procedures. Unadjusted price-standardized Medicare payments were calculated and payments were divided into quintiles. Patient-level factors associated with payments were analyzed by multivariable linear regression.

A total of 17,125 patients were included in the study. Patients in the top quintile of spending accounted for over 40% of payments for all liver and pancreatic procedures. Patients with comorbidity scores ≥5, male sex, open surgical approach and a diagnosis of congestive heart failure were associated with higher costs.

Patients undergoing liver and pancreatic resections on the top 20% of payments were responsible for a disproportionate share of Medicare payments - over 40% of total expenditures. Overall hospital surgical volume was lower among the highest quintile of payments.