National Trends in Utilization and Expenditures for Plastic Surgery From 2002 to 2022: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and aims: Shifting patterns in the financing of plastic surgery are not fully understood. We analyze payer trends for office and outpatient plastic surgery visits from 2002 to 2022.

Methods

We investigated office-based and hospital outpatient department plastic surgery visits in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a national dataset of healthcare usage and expenditures. During the study period (2002-2022), we calculated the yearly median amount of money charged and paid per visit, the distribution of payer type expenditures, and the mean payment-to-charge ratio per visit. Dollar amounts were inflation-adjusted to 2022 estimates.