Impact of insurance precertification on neurosurgery practice and health care delivery.

OBJECTIVE Insurance preauthorization is used as a third-party tool to reduce health care costs. Given the expansion of managed care, the impact of the insurance preauthorization process in delaying health care delivery warrants investigation through a diversified neurosurgery practice. METHODS Data for 1985 patients were prospectively gathered over a 12-month period from July 1, 2014, until June 30, 2015. Information regarding attending, procedure, procedure type, insurance type, need for insurance approval, number of days for authorization, or insurance denial was obtained. Delay in authorization was defined as any wait period greater than 7 days. Some of the parameters were added retrospectively to enhance this study; hence, the total number of subjects may vary for different variables. RESULTS The most common procedure was back surgery with instrumentation (28%). Most of the patients had commercial insurance (57%) while Medicaid was the least common (1%). Across all neurosurgery procedures, insurance authorization, on average, was delayed 9 days with commercial insurance, 10.7 days with Tricare insurance, 8.5 days with Medicare insurance, 11.5 days with Medicaid, and 14.4 days with workers' compensation. Two percent of all patients were denied insurance preauthorization without any statistical trend or association. Of the 1985 patients, 1045 (52.6%) patients had instrumentation procedures. Independent of insurance type, instrumentation procedures were more likely to have delays in authorization (p = 0.001). Independent of procedure type, patients with Tricare (military) insurance were more likely to have a delay in approval for surgery (p = 0.02). Predictably, Medicare insurance was protective against a delay in surgery (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Choice of insurance provider and instrumentation procedures were independent risk factors for a delay in insurance preauthorization. Neurosurgeons, not just policy makers, must take ownership to analyze, investigate, and interpret these data to deliver the best and most efficient care to our patients.

Comparing surgical efficiency in independent practice association HMOS and traditional insurance programs.

This study examines the effect of Independent Practice Association (IPA) HMO membership on hospital total charges, ancillary charges and length of stay (LOS) for surgical patients. Intrahospital comparisons of IPA and traditional insurance patients are made after adjusting for surgical procedure, admission severity of illness, age, sex and year of admission. Our multiple regression model indicates that IPA patients undergoing 12 frequently occurring surgical procedures have lower resource use. Eight (80%) of the 10 study hospitals exhibit a negative IPA beta coefficient for total charges, ancillary charges and LOS. Five (50%) hospitals have statistically significant (p < 0.05) negative coefficients for total charges, while one (10%) hospital has a significant positive coefficient. IPA patients exhibit adjusted total charges that are 6% lower than traditional insurance, ancillary charges that are 4.3% lower, and LOS that is 10% shorter.

Lessons for providers from a purchaser's perspective.

On Jan. 1, 1991, the John Hancock National Transplant Program (JHNTP) became operational, matching kidney, heart, liver, and bone marrow transplant patients from a potential pool comprising more than two million covered lives, with organ transplant programs at 14 institutions across the country. Conceptualizing the program and selecting and contracting with the transplant centers took more than 18 months. This article shares some of the insights from that process that are pertinent to providers of transplant services and to others considering entering this or other forms of specialized contracting.