MDNews - Central New York

cliNical featuRe miNimallY iNvaSive SuRgeRY: looking ahead compared To open procedures, minimally invasive surgery (mis) is linked To decreased risk of infecTion and oTher complicaTions, as well as reduced blood loss in a wide varieTy of procedures from posTerior approach ToTal hip arThroplasTy To minimally invasive aorTic valve surgery. 18 | Central New York MD News ��� mdNewS.com miS and Health care Reform In light of recent reform efforts, the health care industry is increasingly becoming an ideal environment for the continued growth and development of MIS. While procedural effectiveness is on par with many more open techniques, MIS typically results in shorter recovery periods. More efficient recovery means fewer resources are used while the patient regains his or her health, including less blood for transfusions and reduced manpower for physician follow-up sessions due to shorter hospital stays. ���The relationship of minimally invasive surgery to the health care industry is changing,��� says Joe Flower, CEO of The Change Project, Inc., a health care futurist and policy specialist. ���Surgery is becoming part of a larger arc of patient care designed to get and keep patients well.��� Outcomes-driven incentives may help give MIS the push it needs to expand more rapidly. ���Currently, many facilities incentivize in cost centers,��� says William Taylor, M.D., co-founder of the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and professor of neurosurgery at UCSD Medical Center in San Diego, CA. ���Hospitals may incentivize less expensive open procedures because the instrumentation costs are reduced, saving money in a single cost center. However, when you consider the additional expense spent on longer recoveries, intensive care unit stays, physical therapy and blood transfusions, the slightly more expensive, yet more effective, minimally invasive procedure has the potential to reduce the overall cost for the hospital and benefit the patient.���

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