ASPS Report Shows Second Year of Consecutive Growth in Plastic Surgery Market

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons released their annual statistics report last week, and it shows that Americans chose 1.6 million procedures last year.

When combined with minimally invasive procedures like Botox or Laser Treatment, the total comes to a much greater 13.8 million procedures.

Based on the latest statistics, the society is reporting a 5 percent increase in procedures for 2011.

Society Hopes to “Advance the Specialty” with Updated Technology

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons recently announced a partnership with an EMR company called eClinicalWorks. A 3-year initiative stemming from partnership will give ASPS members a chance to obtain customized electronic medical record systems.

The partnership brings together the world’s largest group of plastic surgeons with a leading provider of healthcare technology. Strengths of both organizations, they hope, will advance the specialty of plastic surgery practices around the nation.

The ASPS has been at the forefront when it comes to delivering practice management solutions, especially in the realm of information technology. For example, the society has a journal with a new iPad application, endorsed companies for website design, and now a collaboration with an EMR provider.

“ASPS has a long history of innovation in providing our members with practice management solutions,” said ASPS President Malcolm Roth MD, “including emerging information technology tools. Through collaborations like this, we can help transform the delivery of healthcare throughout the specialty of plastic surgery…”

About the Partnership

“eClinicalWorks and ASPS share the vision and the entrepreneurial spirit that evolution demands,” said Sameer Bhat, co-founder and vice-president of sales for eClinicalWorks. “This partnership further strengthens our leadership with specialties. We are excited to collaborate with this leading medical specialty society and are confident our proven track record of product innovation will meet the needs of plastic surgeons.”

Plastic surgeons will get access to a variety of eClinicalWorks systems, helping to facilitate tasks like:

  • Management of patient flow
  • Accessing patient records (in house or remotely)
  • ePrescribing
  • Secure communication with referring physicians
  • Secure communication with patients
  • Clinical and financial analysis

ASPS chose eClinicalWorks after an 18-month evaluation led by a taskforce of ASPS members. 111 plastic surgeons responded to an ASPS survey regarding Health Information Technology and Electronic Health Records (HIT/EHR). The survey found that plastic surgeon’s use of the technology was “lighter than expected.” The ASPS task force has encouraged more plastic surgeons to embrace EMR and its associated technology.

Surgeons who responded to the survey listed their 5 most valuable EMR functions.

  • Computerized physician order entry (CPOE)
  • Web-based system (cloud computing)
  • Patient web portal
  • Ability to check or advise on evaluation and management coding levels based on fields entered
  • Ability to use a tablet in the office.

Through the survey, ASPS was able to understand practice profiles as well as different EMR/PM vendors to assess software features and functionality. By choosing eClinical Works, the society says it will help members find a cost effective entrance into an electronic medical record system.

With consumer confidence rising across the board, the demand for plastic surgery is rising as well.

“Consumer confidence was up and auto sales rose 10 percent,” said ASPS President Malcom Roth, “so it is not surprising that we would also see increased demand for plastic surgery procedures,” he concluded.

Procedures in cosmetic surgery increased 2 percent. For the first time since 2004, facelift surgery is among the top five cosmetic surgeries.

The number of tummy tucks decreased during 2011, while chin augmentation nearly doubled. Here are the top 5 for 2011:

  • 307,000 Breast augmentation procedures
  • 244,000 Rhinoplasty procedures
  • 205,000 Liposuction procedures
  • 196,000 Eyelid surgery procedures
  • 119,000 Facelift procedures

Surgeons also reported a sharp increase in lip augmentation procedures; at more than 25,000 procedures performed, they were up 49 percent from 2010.

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