Key result
Objective work measures, predominantly operative time, and surgical specialty were significantly associated with assigned work RVUs, explaining 80.2% of the variation.
Why the study?
Work relative value units rely on subjective specialist surveys that have been challenged as potentially biased, prompting evaluation of whether objective work measures correlate with assigned values.
Population
628 unique CPT codes and 726 CPT-specialty combinations from 1 239 991 patient observations
Comparison
Association of 4 procedure-level work measures and surgical specialty with assigned work RVUs
Design
Cross-sectional study
Authors
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Objective measures explained 80% of RVU variation; leaves open whether registry data should inform RVU updates.
Cross-Sectional (n=1,239,991)
Yes
Effect estimate: R2 0.802 (95% CI 0.773-0.831)
Objective work measures, particularly operative time, are strongly associated with assigned work RVUs, suggesting that clinical registry data could be used to augment and inform the RVU updating process.
Childers et al. (2019) conducted a cross-sectional in Surgical procedures (n=1,239,991). Objective work measures and surgical specialty vs. General surgery (for specialty comparisons) was evaluated on Assigned work relative value unit (RVU) (R2 0.802, 95% CI 0.773-0.831). Objective work measures, predominantly operative time, and surgical specialty were significantly associated with assigned work RVUs, explaining 80.2% of the variation.
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