Cost-Benefit Performance of Robotic Surgery Compared with Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery under the Japanese National Health Insurance System.

Background: Medical economics have significant impact on the entire country. The explosion in surgical techniques has been accompanied by questions regarding actual improvements in outcome and cost-effectiveness, such as the da Vinci(®) Surgical System (dVS) compared with conventional video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS).

Objective: To establish a medical fee system for robot-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS), which is a system not yet firmly established in Japan.