Unsupervised procedures by surgical trainees: a windfall for private insurance at the expense of graduate medical education.

J Trauma 70(1):136-9; discussion 139-40 (2011) PMID 21217491

Surgical faculty cannot always be present while trainees perform minor procedures. Fees are not obtained for these unsupervised services because Medicare rules do not allow residents and fellows to bill. Medicare already supplements hospitals via medical education funds and thus reimbursement for trainee services would constitute double billing. Private insurance companies, however, do not supplement trainees' salaries and thus benefit when they are not charged for these procedures. The objective is to determine whether significant revenue is lost to private insurers for unsupervised procedures performed by surgical trainees.