Sunday, August 5, 2012

Study questions cesarean 'financial incentive' role

A frequent accusation in the cesarean debate is that doctors are carrying out more cesareans because they can earn more money this way than with a natural birth.

But a new study from Michigan State University in the U.S., which asked, Does medical insurance type (private vs public) influence the physician's decision to perform Caesarean delivery? has concluded that no, it doesn't.

Tammy Z Movsas et al found that from 2004 to 2008 in Michigan hospitals, 33% of privately insured patients had a cesarean, compared with 29% of Medicaid patients.

However, after adjusting for risk factors (e.g. maternal age, maternal medical conditions, multiple births and prematurity), "no significant disparity was found".

The researchers intend to continue their study of this issue, looking at hospitals on a national level.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the real financial incentive is the avoidance of a malpractice suit. That said, I abhor the rhetoric of the "unnecesarean," support elective c-section and am happy that for medical reasons I must have scheduled c-section myself.