Figure 2: Categories of Hospital-Level Medicare Spending Variation in Bariatric Surgery.

NOTES: Quintiles were assigned at the hospital level and based on average spending adjusting for patient severity, demographics, year of surgery, procedure, and hospital characteristics. Differences between Quintile 1 and Quintile 5 spending within all categories were statistically significant with P<0.01 (see Table 3). DRG = Diagnosis-related group; ED = emergency department; PAC = post-acute care