title: A cost-minimization analysis comparing immediate sequential cataract surgery and delayed sequential cataract surgery from the payer, patient, and societal perspectives in the United States.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The cost difference is evaluated between delayed sequential cataract surgery (DSCS) and immediate sequential cataract surgery (ISCS) in the United States for patients covered by Medicare.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To perform a cost-minimization analysis comparing ISCS with DSCS in the United States from the payer, patient, and societal perspectives for the West Tennessee region and nationally.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cost-minimization analysis using cataract surgery volume and eligibility estimates, 2012 Medicare reimbursement schedules, and actual or estimated patient cost data for the West Tennessee region and nationally was performed comparing ISCS with DSCS. The West Tennessee model was set in a mixed small city and rural private practice setting and was extrapolated to a national model. Ambulatory surgery center and hospital outpatient department setting costs were evaluated.
  
  
  METHODS
  West Tennessee and national Medicare payer costs per patient and the total national Medicare payer cost for DSCS and for ISCS, as well as West Tennessee and national Medicare patient (direct medical, travel, and lost wages) costs for DSCS and for ISCS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nationally, Medicare was estimated to reduce costs by approximately $522 million with the switch from DSCS to ISCS in 2012. With a change to ISCS, a West Tennessee Medicare patient was estimated to reduce costs by $174 for direct medical costs, $40 for travel costs, and $138 for lost wages (total cost reduction range, $329-$649). The total Medicare-based societal cost reduction was $783 million.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Payers and patients would benefit from an economic standpoint by switching from DSCS to ISCS. Patients and their families would benefit from fewer visits. This becomes important given the increasing number of future cataract surgical procedures that will be performed as the baby boomer generation ages, especially given the fact that Medicare is already financially strained. Further research is needed to evaluate the effect of switching to ISCS from the physician and surgical facility perspectives.
authors.affiliation: currently in private practice, Jackson, Tennessee2Physicians Surgery Center, Jackson, Tennessee.
authors.forename: Sean T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Neel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002386:Cataract / Q000191:economics*; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D007910:Lenses, Intraocular / Q000191:economics; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013714:Tennessee; D014481:United States