Can reoperative surgery be profitable? Maximizing reimbursement.

It is interesting to review the topic of reoperative surgery from the aspect of cost-effectiveness or, worse yet, profitability for either the institution or surgeon. The majority of the published material focuses on indications, risk factors, and short- and long-term outcomes. The context of the discussion is framed by the question "Can you make money doing reoperative surgery?" The short answer is that if this is all you do, probably not. Few, if any, publications assess the impact a redo procedure has on the factors that directly affect the fee schedule: surgeon time consumption (intraoperative and postoperative), stress (physical and psychological), and malpractice effects. Far more work needs to be done to understand the cost and resource consumption effects of major reoperative surgery.