Abstract 90: Economic Benefit of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment in the Medicare Patient Population

METHODS: A retrospective review of a Medicare database within the PearlDiver Supercomputer (Warsaw, IN) was performed for patients undergoing open (OCTR) or endoscopic carpal tunnel release (ECTR) from 2005–2012. The PearlDiver database is a publicly available Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)compliant national database compiled from a collection of private payer records. This database contains current procedural terminology (CPT) and International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes. Patients who underwent OCTR were identified by Current Procedural Terminology CPT-64721 and International Classification of Disease ICD-9 code 04.43. ECTR was identified by CPT29848. CTS was identified by ICD-9 354.0. This data was used to calculate the total number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) associated with CTS. A human capital approach was employed and gross national income per capita was used to calculate the economic burden.