Parental perspectives on surgical fees of pediatric squint surgeries

Abstract

Aim: To report the parental feedback on the ′squint surgery fees′ of their ward in an urban private practice. Design: Prospective cohort study. Subjects and Methods: Three months after the surgery, a 10 item questionnaire was administered on the parents of the children who underwent a squint surgery. Multivariate analysis was performed. Results: The parents of 46 children were included. Thirty-three respondents were fathers. The educational status ranged from 6 th grade to postgraduates including doctors. Four respondents refused to disclose the income. The mean total and per capita monthly income of the families were 59,590/- INR (Indian Rupees) and 14,670/- INR, respectively. Thirteen parents found the surgical charges inappropriate. Concession was demanded when the total cost of surgery (28,417/- INR) exceeded the per capita income of the family (10,149/- INR) by three times. The most appropriate cost of the surgery adjudged by the parents was two times the per capita income. The "appropriateness of the fees" had no correlation with the outcome (P = 0.4). All the parents recommended heavy concession in the fees for the reoperations. The quality of the medical expertise was considered the most important determinant of the surgical fees. Of 18 children with mediclaim, 12 had rejection due to ′congenital′ nature of the disease. Two were considered "cosmetic". Conclusions: In a private practice, the parental feedback on fees is desirable to make surgical services demand sensitive. Clinician should avoid the term "congenital" in the medical records and loudly express, "restoration of binocular vision" as the indication of squint surgery in children.

Keywords

• Medical reimbursement
• private practice
• squint surgery
• surgical fees