Cardiothoracic Surgical Volume Within the Military Health System: Fiscal Years 2007 to 2017

Cardiothoracic surgical services have been provided at 7 military treatment facilities over the past decade. Accurate case volume data for adult cardiac and general thoracic surgical service lines in the Military Health System is unknown.

We queried the Military Health System Data Repository for adult cardiac and general thoracic cases performed at military treatment facilities in the Military Health System and surrounding purchased care markets for fiscal years 2007 to 2017. Cases were filtered and classified into major cardiac and major general thoracic categories. Five military treatment facility markets had sufficient cardiac case data to perform cost analysis.

Institutional major cardiac case volume was low across the Military Health System with less than 100 cardiopulmonary bypass cases per year (range, 17-151 cases per year) performed most years at each military treatment facility. Similarly, general thoracic surgical case volume was universally low, with less than 30 anatomic lung resections (range, 0-26) and fewer than 5 esophageal resections (range, 0-4) performed at each military treatment facility annually. Cost analysis revealed that provision of cardiac surgical services is significantly more expensive at most military treatment facilities compared with their surrounding purchased care markets.

Adult cardiac and general thoracic surgical volume within the Military Health System is low across all institutions and inadequate to provide clinical readiness for active-duty surgeons. Recapture of major cases from the purchased care market is unlikely and would not significantly increase military treatment facility or individual surgeon case volume.