title: A comparison of acute hospital charges after tubular versus open microdiskectomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine if tubular microdiskectomy is associated with differences in hospital charges compared with open microdiskectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of patients who underwent tubular microdiskectomy or open microdiskectomy performed by the senior authors from 2007-2010 was performed. The primary outcome was inflation-adjusted total hospital charges for each procedure using itemized charge data obtained from the hospital finance department. Secondary outcomes included length of stay, complications, and operative times.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 76 eligible patients (33 open microdiskectomy and 48 tubular microdiskectomy) identified during the study period. The mean total charge was $27,811 (standard deviation $11,198) in the open group compared with $22,358 (standard deviation $8695) in the tubular group. Total charges in the tubular group were on average $5453 less than in the open group (P = 0.02). There were no significant differences in operative times or complications. Length of stay was significantly shorter in the tubular group (mean 1.5 days open vs. 0.9 days tubular, P = 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This analysis revealed significantly lower acute hospital charges associated with tubular microdiskectomy versus open microdiskectomy at an academic tertiary care hospital. These differences appear to the related to decreased use of postoperative resources in the tubular group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA. Electronic address: kcahill@med.miami.edu.
authors.forename: Kevin S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Cahill
authors.forename: Allan D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Levi
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Cummock
authors.forename: Wensheng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Michael Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D017586:Diskectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D017722:Hospital Charges / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult