Inadequacy of diagnosis related group (DRG) reimbursements for limb salvage lower extremity arterial reconstructions. Ad hoc committee of the Joint Council of the Society for Vascular Surgery and the North American Chapter of the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery.

Prospective cost and reimbursement data were collected from 10 centers in various parts of the United States on 566 patients undergoing lower extremity arterial reconstructions for limb salvage and nonlimb salvage indications. Information for each patient was available on indication and type of procedure, length of stay, the type of hospital insurance, and hospital costs/charges. Diagnosis related group payments from each center were used to determine net gain or loss for each patient. Patients were classified as having claudication or critical ischemia (limb salvage). Reimbursements matched costs/charges for the claudication group; overall mean loss in this group was only $915 per patient. However, all centers had important losses in the limb salvage group. Reimbursements averaged 60% of costs/charges, with a mean loss of $8158 per patient and an overall loss for all 10 centers of $3,653,918. An effort to remedy this inequity is progressing via a dialogue between representatives of the Society for Vascular Surgery, the North American Chapter of the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, and the federal government.