The Economics of Cardiac Surgery

Health care practitioners are under increasing pressure to identify and reduce the costs of their interventions. Cardiac surgical procedures have been studied exten-sively to determine which factors increase costs so the costs of future interventions can be reliably predicted. Knowing the cost components of surgical interventions identifies opportunities for increased efficiency and cost reduction. New technologic advances may initially defy cost reduction efforts until randomized controlled trials and cost analyses can be performed. Copyright © 1999 by W. B. Saunders Company. ealth care providers are under increasing pressure to control costs. In 1990, $110 billion was spent on cardiovascular disease treat-ment in the United States and $128 billion wa