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Citing studies that offer “strong evidence” linking surgical volume with patient outcomes for cancer operations, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council has released statistics for 11 cancer surgeries statewide.
The data, from July 2017 through June 2018, shows that in Luzerne County Geisinger Wyoming Valley performs more procedures than the other two hospitals in all but three types of cancer surgery.
The exceptions were colon cancer surgery, where Wilkes-Barre General is doing 50 procedures compared to Geisinger’s 41; rectum cancer surgery, where General did 14 and Geisingerer did 9; and bladder cancer surgery, with General doing nine and Geisinger doing 6.
Geisinger far outpaced General in brain cancer surgery, with 29 vs. 3. Other gaps are smaller: 99 compared to 17 for breast cancer surgery (Lehigh Valley Hazleton did 16), 13 to 1 in liver cancer surgery, 27 to 19 in lung cancer surgery, eight to none in pancreas cancer surgery (Lehigh Valley did one), 32 to 27 in prostate cancer surgery and six to three in stomach cancer surgery.
Geisinger Wyoming Valley conducted almost all esophagus cancer surgeries in the county, 13 to one at Lehigh Valley Hazleton and none at Wilkes-Barre General.
While the report notes a correlation between volume and outcomes, it also points out “volume data should not be used in isolation when making conclusions about hospital quality since many other factors such as patient level of sickness (stage of cancer) or surgeon experience may also contribute to the overall outcome.