Clinical Outcomes and Financial Impact of a POEM Program at a Rural Tertiary Medical Center: Our First Five Years.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the 5-year impact of a per oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) program on both clinical and financial outcomes for our hospital system and the rural community we serve.

Methods: We evaluated the clinical and financial outcomes of all patients who underwent POEM for achalasia. Patients were also contacted by phone to complete the Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease-Health Related Quality of Life (GERD-HRQL) questionnaire postoperatively. Financial data for all robot-assisted laparoscopic Heller myotomy patients from our institution during the same period were also obtained for cost comparison.

Results: A total of 107 patients underwent POEM in the first 5 years following program implementation, with a mean age of 61.4 ± 17.9 years. There were 75 patients (70%) who participated in the GERD-HRQL survey at a mean follow-up of 84 weeks (range, 6 to 244 weeks). There were 88.2% of respondents who reported no or minimal dysphagia symptoms, and 93.4% of respondents reported no or minimal reflux symptoms. On postoperative upper endoscopy, 19.1% of patients had esophagitis. Implementation of the POEM program resulted in a substantial increase in case volume, growing from 5 myotomy cases per year to 24 myotomy cases per year after 2017. Cost analysis demonstrated a significantly lower index encounter cost for POEM compared with robot-assisted laparoscopic Heller myotomy of approximately $6,000.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates the effectiveness and positive financial impact for both our community and hospital system following implementation of a POEM program at a tertiary medical center serving a large, rural population.