The use, safety and cost of bariatric surgery before and after Medicare's national coverage decision.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine the impact of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) bariatric surgery national coverage decision (NCD) on the use, safety, and cost of care CMS beneficiaries.

Background

In February 2006, the CMS issued a NCD restricting reimbursement for bariatric surgery to accredited centers and including coverage for laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (LAGB).

Methods

A pre/postinterrupted time-series cohort study using nationwide Medicare data (2004-2008) evaluating rates of bariatric procedures/100,000 enrollees, 90-day mortality, readmission rate and payments.

Results

Forty-seven thousand thirty patients underwent procedures at 928 sites pre-NCD and 662 post-NCD. The procedure rate/100,000 patients dropped after the NCD to 17.8 (fr

SUBMITTER: Flum DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4209844 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature