The U.S Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality recently reported a 21% decline in obesity surgery related complications between 2001 and 2006. This was despite the fact that more older and more sick patients were electing to have surgery compared to previous years. Insurance companies also paid less to hospitals, 13%, because of the decrease in the number of complications. Hopefully, this report will lead to more insurance companies offering obesity surgery as a benefit for their patients and increasing the access of patients to these life-changing procedures.
The reasons for the decrease in complications were:
- increased use of laparoscopy and minimally invasive surgical techniques
- increased number of gastric band procedures
- decreased number of gastric bypass procedures
- increased surgeon experience
For more info, go to
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2009/04/29/hscout626473.html
– Dr. Darren Soong
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