Why Pay More for Hospital - Based Procedures? 

GYN Surgeon Thomas L. Lyons, MD Advocates Less Expensive, In-Office Solutions

Globally renowned GYN surgeon Thomas L. Lyons, MD, of the Center for Women’s Care & Reproductive Surgery in Atlanta is launching an advocacy campaign to lower medical costs.

Dr. Lyons, a minimally invasive pioneer, is encouraging insurance companies to wake up to the math—certain in-office procedures cost a fraction of what they cost in the hospital— such as NovaSure to fix the Number One diagnosis in the United States, Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding (DUB).

However, if performed in a hospital (as encouraged by insurance companies), the ninety- second NovaSure procedure costs thousands of dollars more because of additional hospital fees—up to three or four times as much.

“Neither insurance companies nor patients benefit when certain procedures are done in hospitals instead of done in-office,” said Dr. Lyons. “If we shifted procedures that CAN be performed in the office away from a hospital setting, imagine the money the entire health care system and individuals would save,” he emphasized.

In-Office Advantages for Patients, Insurers, & the Health Care System
 

Endometrial biopsy is often performed as a “blind procedure” (in hospital settings it is called a D & C) for dysfunctional uterine bleeding. The problem is that without being able to see the area, the surgeon could be missing the problem up to fifty per cent of the time. This doesn’t happen if it is seen using a hysteroscope, a slender hand-held telescope, in an office-based procedure.

“By seeing and removing a polyp or sub-mucosal fibroid with the hysteroscope, we could potentially pick up a cancer early or prevent a hysterectomy,” explained Dr. Lyons.

“At a time when we’re striving to reduce healthcare costs, our technology for in-office hysteroscopy is excellent—and with it, we can fix problems without operating rooms, general anesthesia, hospital stays and extraneous personnel,” he said.

Hysteroscopes now use computer-driven optics—a chip on a flexible stick, which is inserted, with no incisions, through the vagina and cervix to visualize the problems in the uterus. Hysteroscopes are extremely versatile problem-solving tools.

Quick Fix for Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding (The #1 Diagnosis in the U.S.)

Endometrial ablation is a clinical procedure that is performed to reduce and ideally eliminate excessive menstrual bleeding by destroying, or ablating, the endometrial lining of the uterus. The patented NovaSure System is a next generation device that uses precisely measured radio frequency energy delivered via hysteroscope to remove the endometrial lining.

Dr. Lyons was the first in the Southeast to offer NovaSure as a solution to the age-old problem of excessive menstrual bleeding, or menorrhagia.  It is designed for pre-menopausal women who have completed their childbearing.

According to the National Women’s Health Resource Center, a non-profit offering information on women’s health, approximately one in five women suffer from this problem.  It accounts for approximately 30% of the estimated 600,000 hysterectomies performed in the U.S. annually. 

The 90-second treatment is significantly shorter than any other endometrial ablation treatment. The average procedure lasts five minutes and is performed without general anesthesia, meaning the patient can quickly resume her daily activities.

An added benefit to women: no medications or other preparation of the uterine lining are necessary prior to the procedure. 

Hassle-Free Sterilization

Women seeking a hassle-free procedure for permanent sterilization that involves no anesthesia, no scalpel incisions and no additional outpatient surgery center expenses can have it performed in-office using a hysteroscope.

The Essure and Adiana procedures, unlike tubal ligation (getting the ‘tubes tied’) and vasectomy for men, involve no incisions or anesthesia. There are no punctures, burning or tying. Although uncommon, complications with tubal ligation have been life threatening and even caused death.

Instead, Thomas L. Lyons, MD, uses a tiny hysteroscope to pass micro-inserts through the body's natural pathways (vagina, cervix, and uterus), and place them into the woman’s fallopian tubes

“The Essure and Adiana procedures are very exciting,” said Dr. Lyons, for two decades a global leader in offering minimally invasive GYN solutions to women.  “Our first device was placed in six minutes and the patient was entirely comfortable and conversing during the length of the procedure.”

An additional benefit of the Adiana procedure is that it is compatible with the NovaSure procedure, whereas Essure is not.

“This is a fantastic advance for women's health care, for a woman to have a short office visit, an effective sterilization procedure and walk out a few minutes later. I am pleased to offer this as one of several office based procedures, which are very cost effective for the community and women's health care in general,” said Dr. Lyons.  

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This page last updated 03/11/2010