title: The economics of surgical signatures.
abstract: Identification and analysis of practice patterns for a group of surgeons within the same institution show a significant variation in total hospital charges, length of stay, and ancillary charges for simple uncomplicated hernia repairs and appendectomies. When presented to surgeons, these data can be of immense value in terms of altering practice patterns in order to deliver cost-effective, high-quality health care.
mesh_terms: D001062:Appendectomy; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D013502:General Surgery; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery; D006748:Hospital Departments / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D010380:Peer Review; D011364:Professional Practice; D011379:Prognosis; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States