Minimum Volume Standards: An Incentive To Perform More Radical Cystectomies?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Minimum volume standards (MVS) for hospitals and/or surgeons remain a subject of debate. Opponents of MVS emphasize the possible negative effects of centralization, such as an unwanted incentive to perform surgery.

Objective

To evaluate whether the introduction of MVS for radical cystectomy (RC) in the Netherlands resulted in more RCs outside guideline-recommended indications.

Design setting and participants

All RCs performed for bladder cancer in the Netherlands between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2017 were identified in the Netherlands Cancer Registry. During this period, two MVS were sequentially implemented for RC. RCs in intermediate-volume hospitals (hospitals that approximated the MVS) were compared with RCs in high-volume hospitals (hospitals e

SUBMITTER: Nuijens ST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10175736 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature