Costs of unnecessary repeated diagnostic tests in cholecystectomy

The purpose of this study was to calculate the number, rate and cost of unnecessarily repeated tests on the patients who underwent open cholecystectomy and laparoscopic cholecystectomy and figure out the share of the unnecessarily repeated test costs in total test expenditures and total treatment expenditures. Alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate transaminase, gamma glutamyl transferase, Total bilirubin, whole abdominal ultrasonography, upper abdominal ultrasonography, hepatobiliary ultrasonography tests, which were among the tests used in the patients who underwent cholecystectomy. The research group included 1296 patients. All records of the patients within totally 180 days of period including 90 days of pre-cholecystectomy and 90 days of post-cholecystectomy period were analysed. Necessity/Unnecessary criteria of the tests were identified in accordance with literature data, expert opinions and American Society of Anaesthesiologists Physical Status Classification scores. It was determined that unnecessary test costs consisted of 8.48% of the total test costs and 0.93% of the total treatment expenditures. This study showed that age, gender, surgical technique, and American Society of Anesthesiologists scores significantly differentiated unnecessary repeated test costs. Reducing the use of excessive health service and the related health expenditures, working to reveal its financial and medical benefits are crucial for the reimbursement agency, health service hosts and patients.