What is your surgeon’s complication rate?

Information about complication rates of surgeons is only really useful to you before you have the surgery.  One way to find that information is to head to Pro Publica, a nonprofit investigative journalism outfit that consistently finds great information related to patient safety.  One of its latest projects is the Surgeon Scorecard, where Pro Publica has taken Medicare data to calculate complication rates for surgeons performing common elective procedures.  The project assesses over 17,000 surgeons.

surgeon-scorecard

It is also worth checking out their companion article about why the surgeon you select is more important than many realize. One of the more startling facts from that article?  “A small share of doctors, 11 percent, accounted for about 25 percent of the complications.” So take a look at your surgeon’s record: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

(Graphic from https://projects.propublica.org/surgeons/)