Fewer complications and lower healthcare costs: With spinal surgery, it's better to go to a specialist

A recent study has established a direct correlation between the number of spinal surgeries a surgeon has performed and the occurrence of complications. Very clear conclusion: The more interventions the surgeon performs on average, the lower the complication rate and the lower the costs for the healthcare system.

A working group from Maryland (USA) analyzed a huge amount of data for the years 1992-2005. They assigned 232,668 hospital admissions with the indication “posterolateral lumbar decompression with fusion and/or exploration/decompression of the spinal canal” to the clinics and surgeons. The hospitals and the surgeons were divided into four groups (quartiles) according to the frequency of the operations. In quartile 1 came the hospitals or physicians with the smallest number of interventions, in quartile 4 those with the most referrals.

The result was very clear: the patients were in the best hands in the clinics or with the doctors from quartile 4. They suffered the fewest complications and were able to return home from the hospital an average of 7 days earlier than their fellow sufferers from the first group.

The lower costs associated with treatment by specialists are important for the healthcare system. Thus, the total hospital costs for quartile 4 were 45% lower than those for quartile 1.