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True Cost of Operating Room Time: Implications for an Orthopaedic Trauma Service
Alastair E Moody1, Taylor P Gurnea1, Craig P Shul1
1University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV; and.
Objective:
To derive an accurate estimate of the operating cost per minute for an orthopaedic trauma room.
Study Design:
Retrospective economic analysis.
Setting:
Level II Trauma Center.
Intervention:
Hospital cost-accounting system query.
Main Outcome Measurements:
Direct fixed costs, direct variable costs, and hospital overhead.
Results:
Operating room per minute costs include direct variable costs of $2.77, direct fixed costs of $2.47, and hospital overhead costs of $10.97. Total per minute costs amounted to $16.21. This does not include professional fees of anesthesiology or surgeons or the costs of soft goods or implants.
Conclusions:
This is the first published study to document the true per minute cost of an orthopaedic trauma operating room. Such information is valuable when defining the value of a dedicated operating room, negotiating employment contracts, defining call stipends, and brokering capital purchases for the orthopaedic trauma service.
Level Of Evidence:
Economic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
