Patient Satisfaction: 100 consecutive patients were polled postoperatively
91% found it was less painful or comparable to procedures performed under local anesthesia at the dentist’s office.
86% would prefer to be awake for further hand surgery.
90% would recommend wide awake surgery to a friend.
Study: Teo I, Lam W, Muthayya P, Steele K, Alexander S, Miller G. Patients’ perspective on wide-awake hand surgery-100 consecutive cases. J Hand Surg Eur Vol. 2013 38(9)
Conclusions A clinic-based WALANT hand surgery program at a military medical center results in considerable cost savings for the MHS.
There are at least 97 hand-and-wrist orthopedic procedures that do not have a Site-of-Service Differential (SOSD). In other words, the reimbursement for the surgeon will be the same in the office as in the ASC and you will not be paid for your Office-Based Surgical Suite(OBSS) overhead. Also known as NON-FAC PE, this includes:
1 Clinical Staff Time
2 The Equipment
3 Supplies Typically Used During A Procedure
4 Administrative Staff
5 Building Space
6 Office Supplies
1-3 are direct costs; 4-6 are indirect costs.
This website provides free information on how to negotiate a carve-out with your private insurance carriers for the office overhead (about $1,000) per procedure.
The patient benefits and the insurance company benefits from lower, overall reimbursement costs.
It is a win/win for everyone!