News for Immediate Release
March 28, 2024
Harrisburg – For the first time, PHC4’s Cancer Surgery Volume Report includes ambulatory surgery center (ASC) data. This new report provides information about the number of surgeries performed at Pennsylvania hospitals and ASCs. The types of cancer surgery included are bladder, brain, breast, colon, esophagus, liver, lung, pancreas, prostate, rectum, and stomach. Hospital-specific results are shown for all 11 cancer types. Surgeries performed in ASCs and hospital outpatient departments are included for cancers of the bladder, breast, and prostate. The data included is from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023 (state fiscal year 2023).
† Years represented are state fiscal years, which reflect twelve consecutive months beginning in July and ending in June.
PHC4’s report shows that over the past five years, the percentage of surgeries performed in the outpatient setting (hospital outpatient departments and ASCs) increased for prostate cancer from 25% in state fiscal year 2019 to 57% in state fiscal year 2023. The percentage of breast cancer surgeries performed in the outpatient setting also increased, from 87% to 94%. The percentage of bladder surgeries performed in the outpatient setting decreased slightly, from 85% to 84%.
Barry D. Buckingham, PHC4’s Executive Director stated, “The additional outpatient information now included in our Cancer Surgery Volume Report provides further insight into the changing landscape of health care in Pennsylvania.” PHC4 believes this information will be helpful to stakeholders including cancer patients, families, and caregivers, when making decisions about cancer surgical care in Pennsylvania.
PHC4 is an independent council formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) in order to address rapidly growing health care costs. The Council continues to produce comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services. In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered.
For more information, visit phc4.org or access the full report here.
Media contact:
Barry D. Buckingham, Executive Director, PHC4, [email protected]
