Stephen Resch

Adopting a surgical safety checklist could save money and improve the quality of care in U.S. hospitals

Use of the World Health Organizations Surgical Safety Checklist has been associated with a significant reduction in major postoperative complications after inpatient surgery. We hypothesized that implementing the checklist in the United States would generate cost savings for hospitals. We performed a decision analysis comparing implementation of the checklist to existing practice in U.S. hospitals. In a hospital with a baseline major complication rate after surgery of at least 3 percent, the checklist generates cost savings once it prevents at least five major complications. Using the checklist would both save money and improve the quality of care in hospitals throughout the United States.

Cost-effectiveness of surgery and its policy implications for global health: a systematic review and analysis

BACKGROUND The perception of surgery as expensive and complex might be a barrier to its widespread acceptance in global health efforts. We did a systematic review and analysis of cost-effectiveness studies that assess surgical interventions in low-income and middle-income countries to help quantify the potential value of surgery. METHODS We searched Medline for all relevant articles published between Jan 1, 1996 and Jan 31, 2013, and searched the reference lists of retrieved articles. We converted all results to 2012 US

Defeating AIDS—advancing global health

. We extracted cost-effectiveness ratios (CERs) and appraised economic assessments for their methodological quality using the 10-point Drummond checklist. FINDINGS Of the 584 identified studies, 26 met full inclusion criteria. Together, these studies gave 121 independent CERs in seven categories of surgical interventions. The median CER of circumcision (

Cost-Effectiveness of Treating Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis

13·78 per disability-adjusted life year [DALY]) was similar to that of standard vaccinations (

Prospects for advancing tuberculosis control efforts through novel therapies

12·96-25·93 per DALY) and bednets for malaria prevention (

Strengthening the technical capacity at country-level to make informed policy decisions on new vaccine introduction: Lessons learned by PAHO's ProVac Initiative

6·48-22·04 per DALY). Median CERs of cleft lip or palate repair (

Economic Returns to Investment in AIDS Treatment in Low and Middle Income Countries

47·74 per DALY), general surgery (

Three Interventions That Reduce Childhood Obesity Are Projected To Save More Than They Cost To Implement

82·32 per DALY), hydrocephalus surgery (

Deciding without Data

108·74 per DALY), and ophthalmic surgery (

The economic impact of chronic fatigue syndrome in Georgia: direct and indirect costs.

136 per DALY) were similar to that of the BCG vaccine (