[Opportunity for development of laparoscopic procedures in the hospital setting: costs and benefits for the surgical unit]

Abstract

Physician are induced, by technical development, to demand new devices and instruments and to introduce new method for diagnosis and treatment. In order to do a right economic planning in public health, it's necessary to evaluate costs of technologies, because sometimes there isn't neither a right plan for acquisition nor an efficient control system. One the most stressed medical branch by innovative technologies is the surgery, in particular after the coming of laparoscopic surgery. The will to do, in every way laparoscopic approach, induces to evaluate costs of this surgery, specially cholecystectomy, that is identified by four specific DRGs. In this paper we compare laparotomic versus laparoscopic cholecystectomy in terms of costs and length of stay; the break-even analysis has been performed to determine the number of laparoscopic operations necessary to balance the costs.