Cost-awareness intervention reduces PCI procedure cost

According to results published in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions, announcing endovascular equipment, implant and medication costs in the catheterization lab can significantly affect overall procedure costs for PCI procedures.

The results of the SHOPPING trial showed that making interventionalists cognizant of procedural costs have caused them to consider proper use of equipment, reducing intraoperative waste and procedure cost.

“In current times, where the increasing cost of health care has become an overwhelming concern in regards to determining the future direction of our health care system, it is imperative that physicians and health care staff are targeted to become actively involved in the conscious efforts to reduce the cost of patient care without adversely affecting patient outcomes,” Elad Asher, MD, from Tel-Aviv University in Israel, and colleagues wrote.

Asher and colleagues analyzed 180 PCI procedures performed by interventionalists from University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland; 90 were performed before the cost intervention was implemented and 90 were performed after it was implemented.

For the procedures performed during the intervention, researchers labeled all endovascular supplies, equipment devices and disposables in the cath lab with their prices and after an item was requested by the operator, a staff member announced its unit price before opening the package.

Procedure time and cost were measured for each interventionalist before and after intervention.

Researchers found that there was an average cost reduction of $234.77 (P=.01) for the PCI procedure after the intervention was implemented, which equated to a total savings of $21,129.30 for 90 PCI procedures.

MACCE rates were 2.3% for the preintervention group and 3.5% for the postintervention group (P = .65). There was no difference between the groups in procedure times.

“This study, compounded with our current findings, could lend further support for the use of intraoperative and individualized cost of reporting universally and potentially lead to a vast reduction in national health care costs annually without affecting patient outcomes,” the researchers wrote. “The viability of further applying the SHOPPING trial in other surgical settings remains to be explored but holds great promise.” – by Dave Quaile

Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.