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Issues And Trends In Healthcare Delivery System

Issues And Trends In Healthcare Delivery System

The issues and trends in healthcare delivery are constantly changing. The COVID-19 pandemic is one recent issue that wreaked havoc on healthcare systems, causing a shortage of healthcare workers, high demand for medicines and supplies, and increased medical expenditure due to a lack of insurance. Other issues include rising healthcare costs and care fragmentation.
Cost Containment
Payment for healthcare services has historically promoted adoption of costly and often unnecessary or inefficient...

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Comparing Trends in Medicare Reimbursement and Inflation within Plastic Surgery Subspecialties.

Victoria Stoffel¹, Jalene Y Shim², Salvatore J Pacella³

¹From the Drexel University College of Medicine.

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|May 16, 2023

Summary

Medicare reimbursement for plastic surgery subspecialties has declined significantly when adjusted for inflation. Microsurgery and craniofacial surgery experienced the steepest drops, potentially impacting patient access and practice patterns.

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Area of Science:

Plastic Surgery
Health Economics
Surgical Reimbursement

Background:

Medicare reimbursement rates have stagnated over the last decade, failing to keep pace with inflation across surgical specialties.
Internal comparisons within plastic surgery subspecialties regarding reimbursement trends have not been previously conducted.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate reimbursement trends from 2010 to 2020 within plastic surgery.
To compare these trends across various plastic surgery subspecialties.

Main Methods:

Extracted annual case volumes for top CPT codes from the Physician/Supplier Procedure Summary.
Classified codes into microsurgery, craniofacial surgery, breast surgery, hand surgery, and general plastic surgery.
Calculated inflation-adjusted growth and compound annual growth rates of Medicare physician reimbursement, weighted by case volume.

Main Results:

Overall inflation-adjusted reimbursement growth was -13.5%.
Microsurgery and craniofacial surgery showed the largest decreases (-19.2% and -17.6%, respectively) and lowest compound annual growth rates.
Despite declining reimbursement, microsurgery and craniofacial surgery saw annual increases in case volumes of 3% and 5%, respectively.

Conclusions:

All plastic surgery subspecialties experienced a decrease in inflation-adjusted reimbursement growth.
Craniofacial surgery and microsurgery were particularly affected, with potential negative impacts on practice patterns and patient access.
Increased physician advocacy and participation in reimbursement negotiations are crucial to address these trends.