Trends in Medical Costs for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Surgery in Japan.

The trends for decreases in fees per day and prices for surgical instruments reflect recent government medical cost control policies. The cost for scoliosis surgery is also defined by the government, and the increase over 10 years may reflect the perspective of valuing effective and advanced surgeries. This study of cost trends of operative spinal intervention provides an assessment of surgical benefit and is likely to influence health care costs.