Cataract surgery and effectiveness. 1. Variation in costs between different providers of cataract surgery

Purpose: To describe and analyse the cost of cataract surgery in four community‐run eye clinics in Sweden and also to analyse differences in cost between these clinics. Methods: The average cost of a cataract surgery episode was calculated including one pre‐operative visit, the surgery itself and the post‐operative visits. Included in the analysis were the costs of disposables, personnel, rent, depreciation, general anaesthesia, bed days and education. Excluded were the costs of complications and overhead costs. Results: The average cost for one cataract surgery episode was 5052/6915 SEK (1 Euro =8.57 SEK) with a variation from 4436/6202 to 6130/8293 between the clinics. The lower sum represents a minimum cost of personnel, the higher sum a maximum cost. Conclusion: A large variation in costs of cataract surgery was found in four providers of cataract surgery. Nearly all clinics studied had one or more areas with much higher costs than average.