Average charges for cholecystectomy open and laparoscopic procedures, 1994.

Claims to Metropolitan Life Insurance Company by group health insureds and their dependents for an open cholecystectomy averaged $16,260 in 1994 versus $12,930 for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Laparoscopic procedures accounted for 71.1 percent of the cholecystectomies charged to MetLife in 1994, up slightly from the 70 percent in 1992. The charges for the open procedure varied by almost twofold among the 10 study states with at least 25 open surgeries; similar between-states variation was also evident among the 16 states in which at least 50 laparoscopic surgeries were performed. Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, California and Texas each reported average total charges above the average for both procedures; whereas Ohio and New Jersey reported the lowest total charges for an open cholecystectomy and Ohio and Michigan had the lowest laparoscopic average total charges. Hospital charges accounted for 77 percent of the total charges for an open procedure and for 69 percent of the laparoscopic surgeries. For both forms of surgery this proportion was the lowest in New York (65 and 48 percent, respectively). Length of stay averaged 6.5 days for the open cholecystectomy and 3.1 days for the laparoscopic procedure.