1. Social insurance cost of standard discectomy and percutaneous nucleotomy. A retrospective study of 87 social insurance claim files of male blue collar workers.
- Author
-
Du Bois M, Donceel P, and Debbaut B
- Subjects
- Absenteeism, Adult, Ambulatory Care economics, Anesthesia, General economics, Braces economics, Case-Control Studies, Costs and Cost Analysis, Disability Evaluation, Follow-Up Studies, Health Expenditures, Hospitalization economics, Humans, Insurance Claim Reporting, Length of Stay economics, Lumbar Vertebrae surgery, Male, Middle Aged, Occupations, Office Visits economics, Radiology economics, Retrospective Studies, Workers' Compensation economics, Diskectomy economics, Diskectomy, Percutaneous economics, Social Security economics
- Abstract
A retrospective review of social insurance claim files of male blue collar workers was conducted to compare the social insurance costs of percutaneous lumbar nucleotomy with standard lumbar discectomy ; 29 percutaneous nucleotomy procedures were matched with 58 standard discectomies all carried out between January 1992 and December 1994. It was concluded that a standard discectomy procedure results in significantly higher costs during hospitalisation with respect to surgery, anaesthesia and hospital stay. A percutaneous nucleotomy leads to a significantly higher outpatient expenditure especially in radiology and medical devices. The relative proportion of outpatient practitioner's visits and hospital stay costs was significantly higher for the standard discectomy whereas medical devices had a relatively higher share in outpatient expenditure for the percutaneous nucleotomy. In this population of 87 compensation claimants, the average social insurance costs did not significantly differ between the percutaneous nucleotomy and the standard discectomy.
- Published
- 1998