Table 4 Factors impacting potential Mohs overuse
TDF Domain | Theme | Quote | Participant ID, status |
|---|---|---|---|
Behavioral Regulation | Overuse driven by lack of regulation/monitoring | If you’re not being audited or you’re not being monitored…then they [surgeons] could justify doing these things to increase their outcome or offset expenses and they may do it again, consciously or subconsciously. I don’t think its an overnight thing He [colleague] would automatically take two layers with every single patient, whether it had a positive margin or not…we reported him to [regulatory body] many times…the person next door is doing it. – P4, inlier | P1, outlier P4, inlier |
Reinforcement | Financial incentives driving overuse | The easiest way to cheat is to just take an extra layer. You can easily justify it to Medicare or the third party insurance. And extra layers are reimbursed you know at 100%, so totally inappropriate use of Mohs goes on all the time When you’re in fellowship, you’re not necessarily aware of reimbursement issues and so when you’re in more private practice, you’re more keenly aware of reimbursement and numbers so again, consciously or subconsciously, you make decisions that make you more money | P8, inlier P2, inlier |
Beliefs about Capabilities | Required improvements in education, training and confidence Inexperience | If I remember back to when I was just out of my training, I may have been overly cautious…and ended up with extra stages. There’s been a proliferation of very young Mohs surgeons as there become more training programs. Maybe they’re a little bit less comfortable with their reconstructive skills and afraid to make a too large hole | P18, inlier P4, inlier |
Skills | Surgeons stray from original training/ skills need to be re-developed | I feel that I slipped in the way that I do surgery…I felt like okay, what am I doing, like am I doing flaps all the time, am I doing linear complex repairs? You know, a fish doesn’t know its swimming in muddy water I think part is quality and training. I think a lot of people see a little bit of inflammation and they’re like, ‘oh there’s a tumor here, let me take it out just in case’ and they get another stage out of it | P1, inlier P3, outlier |
Environmental context and resources | Geographic Variation, Clinic Type might impact typical case complexity/ number of stages | I have a low number of stages because I live in Florida. Even though there’s a ton of skin cancer, people have a high utilization of dermatology. They’re plugged in. We’re the only major Mohs [clinic] in [location retracted to protect clinic anonymity]. So we have patients that come from [many other regions] because we’re experienced | P3, inlier P8, inlier |
Social, Professional Role/Identity | Practicing defensively for patient safety/cosmetic result may lead to increased number of stages | If you more heavily weigh the cosmetic aspect, you’re probably going to be taking more layers per case | P2, inlier |