Knowing which surgeries are worth it not only helps Patients - but also addresses Racial disparities

Sanjay Prasad - Surgeon and founder - SurgiQuality

Dr. Prasad has founded a venture to help patients pick the right specialist for acute treatments like surgery while avoiding the 20% of unnecessary interventions. Surgical referrals currently stem from a patient's primary care doctor or emergency room physician to surgeons without concern for cost or outcomes. This lack of guidance in picking the best specialist hurts especially minorities, leading to racial disparities such as more hysterectomies for black women, less frequent aneurysm repairs for black men, and higher post-surgical deaths for black patients. The referral process is the heart of the problem in surgical care.

Dr. Prasad hopes the public's appetite for change post-COVID will ignite interest in these abuses of patients and racial disparities. He wrote a handbook on this theme, "Resetting Healthcare: PostCOVID 19 Pandemic", to help patients understand common myths widely held involving surgical care and why no employer or health plan can say no.