Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Researcher Details Findings in Surgery (Continuing Insurance Coverage for Flap-Based Breast Reconstruction): Surgery

2024 APR 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Data detailed on surgery have been presented. According to news originating from Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “The recent proposed alterations to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulations, although subsequently reversed on August 21, 2023, have engendered persistent concerns regarding the impact of insurance policies on breast reconstruction procedures coverage.”

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: “This study aimed to identify factors that would influence women’s preferences regarding autologous breast reconstruction to better understand the possible consequences of these coverage changes. A survey of adult women in the United States was conducted via Amazon Mechanical Turk to assess patient preferences for breast reconstruction options, specifically deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) and transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM) flap surgery. The Cochrane-Armitage test evaluated trends in flap preferences concerning incremental out-of-pocket payment increases. Of 500 total responses, 485 were completed and correctly answered a verification question to ensure adequate attention to the survey, with respondents having a median (interquartile range) age of 26 (25-39) years. When presented with the advantages and disadvantages of DIEP versus TRAM flaps, 78% of respondents preferred DIEP; however, as DIEP’s out-of-pocket price incrementally rose, more respondents favored the cheaper TRAM option, with $3804 being the “indifference point” where preferences for both procedures converged (P < 0.001). Notably, respondents with a personal history of breast reconstruction showed a higher preference for DIEP, even at a $10,000 out-of-pocket cost (P = 0.04).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Out-of-pocket cost can significantly influence women’s choices for breast reconstruction. These findings encourage a reevaluation of emergent insurance practices that could potentially increase out-of-pocket costs associated with DIEP flaps, to prevent cost from decreasing equitable patient access to most current reconstructive options.”

For more information on this research see: Continuing Insurance Coverage for Flap-Based Breast Reconstruction. Annals of Plastic Surgery, 2024,92(4S). The publisher for Annals of Plastic Surgery is Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health).

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1097/sap.0000000000003804.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jose A. Foppiani, Division of Plastic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States. Additional authors for this research include Erin Kim, Allan A. Weidman, Angelica Hernandez Alvarez, Maria J. Escobar-Domingo, Lauren Valentine, Theodore C. Lee, David W. Mathes, Bernard T. Lee, Samuel J. Lin.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)