Historically, surgical assisting duties were performed by a co-surgeon or other medical doctor.  However, in today’s world, it all comes down to cost.  As the cost and availability of medical doctors have made it unaffordable for Hospitals to continue to serve in this capacity, the surgical assistance role has been assumed by other trained medical personnel.  Many insurance plans are unwilling to contract with Surgical Assistants (as well as Anesthesiologists) as they don’t wish to pay.  However, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), depending on the type of surgery procedure, surgical assistance is required to aid the primary surgeon with tasks.

The hospital policy regarding this issue is stated on the surgical consent form. This form explains that certified surgical assistants may be called to help with an operation. The need for an assistant cannot always be predicted. When you selected your surgeon, you relied upon his or her good judgment to make decisions that were in the best interests of your health. As a practical matter, your surgeon was unable to discuss each of these decisions with you. After thoroughly reviewing your medical history and the surgical procedure that was to be performed, your surgeon determined that it was in your best interest for the safest possible performance of your surgery to have a surgical assistant present during your surgery.

Once we receive the surgery details and insurance information from the hospital facility where you had your surgery, we send a claim directly to your insurance carrier.  It is only after we have concluded our efforts in pursuing the claim with the insurance carrier, that we contact you for the remaining balance.

While under anesthesia for surgery, patients are often unaware of anybody in the operating room.  You can speak with the office of your primary surgeon to confirm.  As a patient, you have the right to request a copy of your operative report.