Higher costs for complex cancer surgery may be an indicator for worse, rather than better, quality of care, according to research by the Baker Institute and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study suggests that lower patient costs achieved by high-volume surgeons can be explained by the lower occurrence of “processes of care”— many of which are taken to avoid or treat complications that can occur during surgery, such as placing arterial lines or providing epidural anesthesia.
Click here to read the findings in the journal Surgery.
