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Cost of heart bypass surgery in California

The average cash price for heart bypass surgery care in California is $64,610 at inpatient hospital. Read More

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Average cash price in California

A common heart bypass surgery at inpatient hospital facility in California includes

  Units Avg Cash price

Provider

Cardiac surgeon visit provider fee

First time visit Standard
1 $154

Cardiologist visit provider fee

First time visit Standard
1 $154

Cardiac surgeon visit provider fee

Returning visit Standard
1 $116

Cardiologist visit provider fee

Returning visit Standard
1 $116

Inpatient hospital observation care provider fee

Established patient checkup 25 minutes
3 $324

Inpatient hospital observation care provider fee

Established patient checkup 35 minutes
3 $463

Provider fee for heart/blood pressure stress test with ekg monitoring

Complete Standard
1 $106

Provider fee for heart artery bypass

With 1-2 artery graft(s) Standard
2 $6,169

Provider fee for vein and artery heart artery bypass

2-3 veins Standard
1 $726

Provider fee to insert catheter into artery for blood sampling or infusion, through the skin

Standard Standard
1 $67

Provider fee to remove premalignant lesion

First lesion Standard
1 $81

Provider fee to remove premalignant lesion

2nd through 14 lesions (each) Standard
11 $38

Facility

Admission for coronary bypass, without heart catheterization

Without complications Standard
1 $50,850

Imaging

Provider fee for left side of heart exam/imaging

Standard Standard
1 $1,662

Provider fee for right side of heart monitoring

Standard Standard
1 $135

Provider fee for routine ekg with interpretation/report

Standard Standard
1 $58

Provider fee for arm/leg veins flow ultrasound

One side Standard
1 $181

Provider fee for blood flow (outside brain) ultrasound

Both sides of head/neck Standard
1 $296

Radiology fee for chest x-ray

1 view Standard
5 $209

Radiology fee for chest x-ray

2 views Standard
1 $53

Radiology fee for stomach x-ray

1 view Standard
1 $48

Radiology fee for nuclear study of heart vessels

Multiple studies Standard
1 $745

Equipment

Diagnostic study with technetium tc-99m

Tetrofosmin Standard
1 $316

Anesthesia

Anesthesiologist fee to be "put under" for procedure

Level 8 Standard
1 $780

Anesthesiologist time to be "put under" for procedure

Per minute Standard
321 $745

Provider fee for sedation by a physician who is performing a procedure

First 15 minutes (5+ year old patient) Standard
1 $19
Total average cash price   $64,610.03

Coronary artery bypass surgery is the most commonly performed heart surgery in the United States.  It is a serious heart surgery that is performed when you have at least one major heart blood vessel that has a significant blockage.  The blockage, or plaque, is composed of cholesterol and blood clotting cells, and reduces the blood flow to your heart muscle.  This can cause damage to your heart if not corrected.  The blood flow is restored by taking an artery or vein from a different part of your body and using it to reroute the blood flow to your heart.  Usually, the artery is taken from the underside of the chest or from the arm, and the vein is taken from the leg.  These blood vessels, or grafts, are first checked to ensure that they are patent and do not have blockage. 

Coronary artery bypass surgery (abbreviated as CABG, and pronounced “cabbage”) is an open heart surgery in which you are placed under general anesthesia with a breathing tube inserted into your lungs, and attached to a ventilator.  You are sedated and will not feel any pain during the procedure.  The surgeon makes an incision down the front of your chest, and the chest cavity is opened to expose the heart.  You are placed on a machine that pumps your blood for you (heart-lung machine, or cardiopulmonary bypass), which allows your heart to be stopped so the surgeon can suture the new blood vessels above and below the blockages to allow blood flow to be re-routed.  This ensures that the heart muscle has adequate and maximum blood flow.   Once the procedure is completed, the heart is restarted, and you are taken off the breathing machine and the bypass machine. More information is available at www.medicine.umich.edu.

A less commonly used type of coronary bypass surgery is the off-pump CABG, in which the heart-lung machine is not used and the surgery is performed while the heart is still beating.  Some studies have shown that this type of surgery results in lower risk of stroke.

Heart bypass surgery is a serious surgery.  As with any surgery, there are risks and benefits.  If your doctor recommended bypass surgery, you already have a serious heart condition, with blockages to blood flow that put you at risk of future heart attacks, heart rhythm problems, and congestive heart failure.

The risks of bypass surgery include bleeding, infection, strokes, heart attack, kidney, and lungs problems.  These usually occur in about 2% of cases. You can learn more at www.hopkinsmedicine.org.

Yes, coronary artery bypass graft surgery is a type of open heart surgery.  The sternum, or breastbone, is cut open, to allow the surgeon to access the heart to reroute the blood flow, as described above.   More information is available at www.mayoclinic.org.

The surgery length depends on how many bypass grafts are needed to be placed. If three areas of blockage are identified, you undergo a triple bypass surgery; if four vessels need to be bypassed, you undergo a quadruple bypass. The more grafts that are being placed, the longer the surgery. On average, coronary bypass surgery lasts from three to six hours.

No. The surgeon will need to open the chest cavity to access the heart.  To do so, an incision is made in front of the chest, lengthwise, and then the sternum, or breastbone, is cut open to expose the heart.

A patient stays 5-7 days in the hospital, on average, after coronary artery bypass surgery.  Typically, for the first two days following surgery, the patient will be watched very closely in the intensive care unit.  The patient will be encouraged to do light walking with assistance of a nurse, and do lung exercises to help expand the lungs and prevent development of pneumonia.  The patient usually will go out of the intensive care unit and into a regular patient ward once he is able to walk and eat on his own, and if his vital signs are stable.

Bypass surgery is a painful surgery, since it is a major procedure that involves the re-routing the blood flow to the heart.  During the surgery, and usually for a relatively short time afterward, the patient is sedated on a ventilator and does not feel pain.  As the patient is weaned off the ventilator, he is more awake, and the pain medicine given during the surgery starts to wear off.

There are oral and intravenous pain medications available that will help the patient stay comfortable, but not sedate the patient excessively.  Pain control is important to enable the patient to ambulate without distress.  Pain medications include anti-inflammatory medicine as well as narcotics.  These should all be used sparingly as needed.  The patient will usually have pain at the incision site for a number of weeks, which should decrease with activity and time.

The typical 10-year survival rate after bypass surgery is approximately 77%.  The surgery should decrease or eliminate the incidence of chest pain for about 10-15 years, on average.  Incorporating a healthy lifestyle, including low fat diet and exercise, helps to increase lifespan. 

Alternatives to bypass surgery include medication management and coronary artery stenting.

Medications such as beta blockers and nitrates can help relax the heart, thus allowing better blood flow.  Usually, however, this is not enough to restore adequate blood flow to the heart when there is a major blockage, and surgery is still the best option.

Coronary artery stenting may be utilized for a patient who has a major heart blockage but does not want, or cannot undergo surgery due to other serious medical conditions or advanced age.  A stent, which looks like a small spring, is inserted via a catheter from the groin into the heart, and is deployed to prop open the blood vessel, without requiring major bypass surgery.

About the heart bypass surgery Average Cash Prices

This procedure is most commonly performed at an In patient hospital.

Inpatient

Inpatient departments within a hospital provide treatments and procedures that require at least one overnight stay at the hospital. Inpatient hospital departments provide more than surgical procedures; they also provide acute and long-term care, including emergency room services, rehabilitation and additional treatments, psychiatric wards, and long-term nursing care. Procedures performed at an inpatient department will be among the most costly, but can't be avoided if your doctor requires hospital admittance for the treatment.

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* Savings estimate based on a study of more than 1 billion claims comparing self-pay (or cash pay) prices of a frequency-weighted market basket of procedures to insurer-negotiated rates for the same. Claims were collected between July 2017 and July 2019. R.Lawrence Van Horn, Arthur Laffer, Robert L.Metcalf. 2019. The Transformative Potential for Price Transparency in Healthcare: Benefits for Consumers and Providers. Health Management Policy and Innovation, Volume 4, Issue 3.

Sidecar Health offers and administers a variety of plans including ACA compliant and excepted benefit plans. Coverage and plan options may vary or may not be available in all states.

Your actual costs may be higher or lower than these cost estimates. Check with your provider and health plan details to confirm the costs that you may be charged for a service or procedure.You are responsible for costs that are not covered and for getting any pre-authorizations or referrals required by your health plan. Neither payments nor benefits are guaranteed. Provider data, including price data, provided in part by Turquoise Health.

The site is not a substitute for medical or healthcare advice and does not serve as a recommendation for a particular provider or type of medical or healthcare.