Bone marrow biopsy and aspiration: a departmental financial comparison in a rural hospital

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Radiology
• Health Economics

Background:

• Bone marrow aspiration and biopsies are critical diagnostic procedures.
• Specialty choice for these procedures can impact healthcare costs and resource utilization.
• Understanding cost differences is vital for healthcare management, especially in rural settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare hospital charges and payments for bone marrow aspiration and biopsies performed by interventional radiology (IR) versus hematology/oncology (H/O) specialists.
• To assess specimen quality and the association of body mass index (BMI) with specialist choice.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of bone marrow aspiration and biopsy procedures at Bassett Medical Center.
• Comparison of charges, payments, and specimen adequacy between IR and H/O groups.
• Statistical analysis to determine differences in costs, sample quality, and patient demographics (including BMI).

Main Results:

• Interventional radiology procedures incurred significantly higher median charges ($5254) and payments ($1392) compared to hematology/oncology procedures ($413 and $1109, respectively).
• Specimen adequacy was comparable between the two specialist groups.
• Patients undergoing procedures with interventional radiology specialists had a significantly higher mean BMI (34.3) than those seen by hematology/oncology specialists (28.6).

Conclusions:

• Interventional radiology specialists perform bone marrow procedures at a substantially higher cost to the hospital compared to hematology/oncology specialists.
• Despite cost differences, specimen quality is not compromised.
• Higher BMI in patients undergoing IR procedures may warrant further investigation into its role in specialist selection and procedural outcomes.