A common heart bypass surgery at inpatient hospital facility in North Carolina includes
| |
Units |
Avg Cash price |
Provider |
Cardiac surgeon visit provider fee
First time visit
Standard
|
1 |
$123 |
Cardiologist visit provider fee
First time visit
Standard
|
1 |
$123 |
Cardiac surgeon visit provider fee
Returning visit
Standard
|
1 |
$93 |
Cardiologist visit provider fee
Returning visit
Standard
|
1 |
$93 |
Inpatient hospital observation care provider fee
Established patient checkup
25 minutes
|
3 |
$258 |
Inpatient hospital observation care provider fee
Established patient checkup
35 minutes
|
3 |
$369 |
Provider fee for heart/blood pressure stress test with ekg monitoring
Complete
Standard
|
1 |
$84 |
Provider fee for heart artery bypass
With 1-2 artery graft(s)
Standard
|
2 |
$4,922 |
Provider fee for vein and artery heart artery bypass
2-3 veins
Standard
|
1 |
$579 |
Provider fee to insert catheter into artery for blood sampling or infusion, through the skin
Standard
Standard
|
1 |
$54 |
Provider fee to remove premalignant lesion
First lesion
Standard
|
1 |
$65 |
Provider fee to remove premalignant lesion
2nd through 14 lesions (each)
Standard
|
11 |
$31 |
Facility |
Admission for coronary bypass, without heart catheterization
Without complications
Standard
|
1 |
$40,571 |
Imaging |
Provider fee for left side of heart exam/imaging
Standard
Standard
|
1 |
$1,326 |
Provider fee for right side of heart monitoring
Standard
Standard
|
1 |
$107 |
Provider fee for routine ekg with interpretation/report
Standard
Standard
|
1 |
$46 |
Provider fee for arm/leg veins flow ultrasound
One side
Standard
|
1 |
$144 |
Provider fee for blood flow (outside brain) ultrasound
Both sides of head/neck
Standard
|
1 |
$236 |
Radiology fee for chest x-ray
1 view
Standard
|
5 |
$167 |
Radiology fee for chest x-ray
2 views
Standard
|
1 |
$43 |
Radiology fee for stomach x-ray
1 view
Standard
|
1 |
$38 |
Radiology fee for nuclear study of heart vessels
Multiple studies
Standard
|
1 |
$594 |
Equipment |
Diagnostic study with technetium tc-99m
Tetrofosmin
Standard
|
1 |
$252 |
Anesthesia |
Anesthesiologist fee to be "put under" for procedure
Level 8
Standard
|
1 |
$622 |
Anesthesiologist time to be "put under" for procedure
Per minute
Standard
|
321 |
$594 |
Provider fee for sedation by a physician who is performing a procedure
First 15 minutes (5+ year old patient)
Standard
|
1 |
$15 |
Total average cash price |
|
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.
