If you plan to have hysterectomy surgery, you’ll want a highly qualified gynecologic surgeon to perform the procedure. How do you find the best surgeon who is right for you? Here are important factors to keep in mind.
Find a surgeon who:
- Is board certified in a gynecologic specialty and who specializes in surgery
- Has experience treating patients with your specific condition
- Practices at a hospital known to have high-quality outcomes in gynecologic surgery
- Accepts your insurance
- You are comfortable talking with and who fully answers your questions
Here are six steps to finding the best surgeon to perform your hysterectomy.
Start by creating a list of potential surgeons. Ask your family, friends, and other healthcare providers for recommendations. If you’re starting out without any referrals, or you’re looking for more options, search for a gynecologist on Healthgrades.com. There are several types of gynecologists. You can narrow your search by looking for obstetrician-gynecologists (Ob/Gyns), gynecologic surgeons, and gynecologic oncologists. In some cases, a general surgeon may perform a hysterectomy. Healthgrades.com shows patient satisfaction which give you insight into how your own experience might be with the doctor. Patients rate the doctor and the doctor’s medical practice, and say if they would recommend the doctor to family and friends.
Take time to research the doctors’ credentials and experience. Look for a doctor who is board certified in gynecologic surgery and performs hysterectomies on a regular basis. The more experience a doctor has performing hysterectomies, the better your results are likely to be.
Also, confirm that the doctor is in good standing with state and federal agencies and that he or she has no history of malpractice claims or disciplinary actions. You’ll find all this information on Healthgrades.com.
Hysterectomies often require a team of highly skilled and experienced healthcare professionals. For this reason, you should also consider the overall quality of gynecologic surgery at the hospital where the surgeon practices.
Find out where the surgeons on your list can treat patients; then research those hospitals on Healthgrades.com. Healthgrades evaluates hospitals on mortality and complication rates of patients while in the hospital for a range of common procedures, including gynecologic surgeries.
Ideally you should find a hospital in your area that performs better than expected (5-stars) for gynecologic surgery, then find a doctor who can admit and treat patients at this hospital. Avoid hospitals with lower than expected (1 star) results.
If a particular hospital falls short in quality, determine if the surgeon also operates at a different facility with better quality. Otherwise, find a surgeon who treats patients at a hospital likely to offer you the best possible outcome.
As you narrow down your list of surgeons, call each surgeon’s office and ask for a consult appointment to meet and interview the doctor.
- Ask yourself if you are comfortable talking with the doctor.
- Does he or she respect your opinions and answer your questions in a way you understand?
Here are some questions to ask the doctor:
- Do you typically treat patients like me?
- How many hysterectomies have you performed?
- What proportion of abdominal, vaginal and laparoscopic hysterectomies do you perform?
- What results do you usually see? Do you have outcomes data to share?
- How frequently do you encounter complications from the surgery?
- What do you do to avoid complications or correct them if they occur?
The uterus can be removed in one of three ways. Laparoscopic hysterectomy removes the uterus through small incisions in your belly. Vaginal hysterectomy removes the uterus through an incision inside your vagina. Abdominal hysterectomy is similar to a C-section (cesarean section)—the surgeon removes the uterus through a large incision in your lower belly.
Laparoscopic hysterectomy is not recommended in suspected or known cancer cases because it interferes with the pathology report of uterine tissue.
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has taken a strong position that vaginal and laparoscopic approaches are preferable. They typically entail much less hospital time, pain and recovery time than abdominal hysterectomies.
If your surgeon doesn’t have experience performing hysterectomy with a laparoscopic or vaginal surgical approach, or doesn’t think you are a candidate for it, get a second opinion. It may save you several weeks of pain down the line.
Your insurance coverage is a practical matter. To receive the most insurance benefits and pay the least out-of-pocket for your surgery, you need to choose a surgeon that participates in your plan.
But keep in mind, just because a doctor participates in your insurance plan doesn’t mean he or she is a high-quality doctor. You still need to consider the doctor’s experience and expertise.
