Cost-effectiveness of surgical comanagement: A systematic review

To determine the impact of surgical comanagement programs on healthcare system costs.

With increasing emphasis on multidisciplinary care, surgical comanagement programs are increasing in popularity. However, the overall cost-effectiveness of these programs has yet to be evaluated.

Pubmed, Scopus, and Cochrane were systematically searched for studies that reported on cost outcomes after implementation of a surgical comanagement program. Data points extracted included study design details, cost outcomes, complication rates, duration of hospital stay, hospital volume changes, patient satisfaction, mortality, and overall multidisciplinary care recommendation.

A total of 8 studies were included. Five of the 8 studies reported cost savings, with an average savings of $4132 per patient. Three of the 8 studies reported increases in costs, with an average increase of $11,128 per patient. Seven of the 8 studies reported decreases in length-of-stay, with an average decrease of 1.29 days.

Surgical comanagement programs have had mixed results on overall hospital costs, but cost saving interventions do not sacrifice the quality of patient care delivered.