Table 3. Payments for Laparoscopic Gastric Band Index Operations and Reoperationsa.
| Characteristic | Mean Cost of Index Operation (n = 20 406) |
Mean Cost of Each Reoperation Episode (n = 4636) |
Cost of Reoperation(s) per Patient,b $ (n = 4636) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Index hospitalization overall | 9950 | 13 420 | 49 290 |
| Diagnosis related group | 9933 | 13 170 | 48 634 |
| Outlier | |||
| Proportion with payment, % | 2.5 | 2.48 | 2.16 |
| Average payment when present | 5014 | 9612 | 25 914 |
| Average payment overall | 17 | 250 | 656 |
| Physician services | 2041 | 5034 | 16 617 |
| Readmission | |||
| Proportion with payment, % | 9.2 | 8.69 | 7.85 |
| Average payment when present | 3925 | 5932 | 18 304 |
| Average payment overall | 167 | 540 | 1687 |
| Post-discharge ancillary care | |||
| Proportion with payment, % | 33.0 | 41.63 | 39.78 |
| Average payment when present | 557 | 1540 | 4023 |
| Average payment overall | 188 | 671 | 1878 |
| Total episode | 12 345 | 19 657 | 68 896 |
a
Data source: Medicare claims, 2006 to 2013. Payments shown here are after price-standardization.
b
Includes the total costs of all reoperations (the average per patient was 3.8) for each patient who underwent at least 1 reoperation.