Is your doctor raking in the dough by putting you under the knife?
A new study finds that clinic-owning surgeons tend to perform more surgeries…

Is your doctor more interested in your health or his paycheck?

Your health, right?

We’d all like to think so, but a new study out of Florida had me second-guessing my answer.

The new study, published in an upcoming issue of the journal Health Services Research, took a look at kidney- stone surgeries at physician-owned clinics (known as ambulatory surgery centers).

Ambulatory surgery centers are somewhat controversial because physicians get, in addition to their professional fees, a share of the profits. I’m sure you can see where this is going…

Many times, urologists tell their patients to let the stones pass on their own. But sometimes doctors choose to perform surgeries to break up the stones instead.

Okay, so sometimes the surgery is necessary. But when researchers examined a database of outpatient kidney-stone surgeries performed over the course of 4 years, they found that clinic-owning urologists performed an average of 39 such surgeries a year.

Urologists who didn’t own the clinics performed an average of only 23.

Despite drawing the obvious conclusion—that surgeons who stand to profit may be more likely to perform unnecessary surgeries—the lead researcher tried to be optimistic.

He suggested that clinic-owning doctors might perform more procedures because they specialize in them. He also pointed out that busy surgeons are often better surgeons with lower complication rates.

Alright—if you’re okay being a “practice patient.”

If your doctor suggests surgery, be sure to ask plenty of questions about your other options—especially if one of those options is just waiting to see if your body takes care of itself.

Source:
“Clinic-Owner Urologists Perform More Surgeries Than Peers.” Newswise (www.newswise.com), 3/17/09.