Surgical Vampires Becoming More Frugal

When doctors know the price tag on the blood tests they order, they are more prudent. That’s the conclusion of a new study entitled “Surgical Vampires and Rising Health Care Expenditure” published in the Archives of Surgery.
Frequently, doctors don’t know how much such tests cost and tend to order many as a matter of routine. A study at a Rhode Island hospital found that making surgeons aware of the weekly charges for blood tests reduced overall spending on them by $55,000 over three months. The average spending for each patient dropped from $150 a day to just over $100. The authors point out that there has been a “disconnect between health care providers, consumers, and the cost of the service.” In this study, many of the ordered blood tests were considered unnecessary. If other hospital physicians were better informed of the costs of the tests they order, they too might be more judicious in their practice.

[Archives of Surgery, May, 2011]