Study Data from University of Iowa Update Knowledge of Medical Devices and Surgical Technology (More Surgery In December Among Us Patients With Commercial Insurance Is Offset By Unrelated but Lesser Surgery Among Patients With Medicare Insurance): Medical Devices and Surgical Technology

2022 MAY 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Research findings on Medical Devices and Surgical Technology are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting originating from Iowa City, Iowa, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Evaluate whether there is more surgery (in the US State of Florida) at the end of the year, specifically among patients with commercial insurance. Observational cohort study.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of Iowa, “The 712 facilities in Florida that performed inpatient or outpatient elective surgery from January 2010 through December 2019. Among patients with commercial insurance, December had more cases than November (1.108 [1.092-1.125]) or January (1.257 [1.229-1.286]). In contrast, among patients with Medicare insurance (traditional or managed care), December had fewer cases than November (ratio 0.917 [99% confidence interval 0.904-0.930]) or January (0.823 [0.807-0.839]) of the same year. Summing among all cases, December did not have more cases than November (ratio 1.003 [0.992-1.014]) or January (0.998 [0.984-1.013]). Comparing December versus November (January) ratios for cases among patients with commercial insurance to the corresponding ratios for cases among patients with Medicare, years with more commercial insurance cases had more Medicare cases (Spearman rank correlation +0.36 [+0.25], both p< 0.0001). In the US State of Florida, although some surgeons’ procedural workloads may have seasonal variation if they care mostly for patients with one category of insurance, surgical facilities with patients undergoing many procedures will have less variability.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Importantly, more commercial insurance cases were not causing Medicare cases to be postponed or vice-versa, providing mechanistic explanation for why forecasts of surgical demand can reasonably be treated as the sum of the independent workloads among many surgeons.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: More Surgery In December Among Us Patients With Commercial Insurance Is Offset By Unrelated but Lesser Surgery Among Patients With Medicare Insurance. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 2022. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Franklin Dexter, University of Iowa, Dept. of Anesthesia, 200 Hawkins Dr, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States. Additional authors for this research include Richard H. Epstein, Christian Diez and Brenda G. Fahy.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3482. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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