For a study, it was determined that elective surgical cases had lower expenses, bigger profit margins, and better outcomes than nonelective surgical cases. Investigating the cost and profit variations between elective and nonelective cases could aid hospitals in developing strategies to survive financial losses from prospective pandemics. The authors wanted to compare the actual cost and profit margin disparities between elective and nonelective supratentorial tumor resection at a single facility. Between January 2014 and December 2018, the authors collected data on all patients who received supratentorial tumor excision at their hospital. The patients were divided into two categories: elective and non-elective. To account for the differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups, propensity score matching was performed by Researchers.
Over five years, there were 143 elective instances and 232 nonelective cases. Patients had private insurance in most elective cases and Medicare in the majority of nonelective instances (p<0.01). The overall charges for elective cases ($168,800.12) were substantially lower than those for nonelective patients ($254,839.30, P<0.01). Elective cases had about 6 times greater profit margins than nonelective patients ($13,025.28 vs $2,128.01, P= 0.04). After propensity score matching, there was still a considerable discrepancy between total charges and total cost. Elective supratentorial tumor resections were associated with much lower expenditures and shorter durations of stay than nonelective patients and were nearly 6 times more profitable. These findings could aid future hospital planning to avoid financial losses in the event of future pandemics that need widespread cancellation of elective procedures.
Reference:thejns.org/view/journals/j-neurosurg/136/1/article-p40.xml
