Geographic variation in rates of common surgical procedures in France in 2008–2010, and comparison to the US and Britain

Geographic variation in use of elective surgeries has been widely studied in the US, where over-utilization is incentivized. We wanted to explore recent trends in the geographic variation of common surgical procedures in France – where a global budget, centralized planning process, and compulsory insurance scheme are in place – and to compare measures of variation there to those in the US and Britain. For 2008–2010, we calculated French age- and sex-adjusted per capita utilization rates and four measures of geographic variation for hip fracture admission (which is standard treatment and shows minimal geographic variation across countries) and 14 elective surgical procedures. We found substantial geographic variation in age-sex adjusted per capita admission rates for elective procedures: radical prostatectomy, spine surgery, and CABG showed the greatest variation, while hip fracture, colectomy, and cholecystectomy showed the least. Among older patients, most French admission rates were lower than those seen in the US. In general, measures of geographic variation were lower in France than those reported in the US or Britain. French policymakers could use analyses of geographic variation in service utilization to inform policy, to identify areas for intervention, or to measure the effectiveness of efforts designed to reduce variation in care.