The Impact of Physician Assistants on a Breast Reconstruction Practice: Outcomes and Cost Analysis

Background: Physician assistants (PAs) are commonly employed in plastic surgery. However, limited data exist on their impact, which may guide decisions regarding how best to integrate them into practice. Methods: A review of the practices of 2 breast reconstructive surgeons was performed. A comparison was made between a 1-year period before to a 1-year period after the addition of a PA into practice. The practice model was a one-to-one pairing of a plastic surgeon and a PA. Results: A total of 4141 clinic encounters and 1356 surgical cases were reviewed. After the addition of PAs, there was a significant increase in relative value units (1057 vs 1323 per month per surgeon, P

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