Surgeon fees vs anesthesia cost for a facelift or rhinoplasty?

The anesthesia fee is usually based on the actual operating room time. More complex and lengthy surgery will therefore have a higher anesthesia fee. Presumably, the surgery fee will also be higher if the surgery is more complex or lengthy, but there is no standard relationship or percentage to expect this ratio to be.There can be a fair bit of variability in surgery times among surgeons. Some of this is based on differing operative plans as it's fairly common for surgeons to have different approaches to treating the same problem.In the end what's important is the results you surgeon achieves. If you like his or her results then that is a good sign.

    I would just ask how long the procedure lasts or determine the surgical center fees and calculate the length of time.Kenneth Hughes, MDLos Angeles, CA

Anesthesia fees vs length of surgery? This is a good question. Some surgeons may take an unusual amount of time and should be a red flag. 

Interesting question I have not seen before. There is not a set ratio between the fees for surgeon, anesthesia and facilit0y. In my opinion the surgeon's fee should be more than half since it is the surgeon who is actually performing the procedure and will be taking care of the patient after surgery. Most anesthesia and facilities charge by time, so the longer the surgery - the more cost. Most surgeons charge by the proceudre. This includes not only the time but the complexity and overall care, as well as for the surgeon's expertise. Hope this helps.

These fees vary widely. Further, some quotes are broken out by facility charge, anesthesia and surgeon while other quotes list a package price. Given that these fees are all over the map, your best option is simply to ask your chosen surgeon how long they take to complete a typical procedure. One last thing to consider is that skilled surgeons have a wide range of operative time and you don't necessarily want either the fastest or the slowest surgeon. If you have questions such as these, you should just ask. An honest surgeon/ office will simply give you the answer that you are seeking.Stephen Weber MD, FACSDenver Facial Plastic Surgeon

There is no ratio. You just need to search around and price shop. Remember the cheapest is not always the best. Surgeon fees vary and so do anesthesia fees.

There are 3 individual fees that make up the cost of a facelift or a rhinoplasty. These are surgeon's fee, anesthesia  doctors fee, and operating room fee. Surgeon's fee for performing the procedure is usually a fixed fee, however the operating room and anesthesia fees are usually related to time. The longer the procedure is  going to take to be accomplished by the surgeon, the more the operating room and anesthesia fees will be, as a general rule.  In our practice, we are very consistent on our  surgical operative times, and do not perform balance billing to our patients if we ever run over time. For transparency sake, we place all of our fees on our website for patient's to review.

I am unaware of surgeons and anesthesiologist splitting a fee. Surgeons usually charge by the procedure and anesthesiologist charge by the length of the procedure.  Facility fees are also tied to the length of the procedure plus any special equipment or surgical devices. As far as length of procedure is concerned, there is a wide variation in how "fast" operations can be done.   I think it's important to choose a prudent surgeon who schedules enough time to do a good job and not have to be rushing to finish the case.  That being said, an 8 hour nose job?  That surgeon likely doesn't know what he or she is doing.  An 8 hour face lift?  Some really fabulous surgeons take that much time to do a full facial rejuvenation. That "face lift" likely also entails a brow lift, eyelids and some fat injection.  

There is no set relationship between these fees. Anesthesia charges are based on the duration of the operation and the difficulty of the procedure. Just ask re the duration of the operation you're considering; if the surgical time is excessive compared to other physicians for the same operation ask why. Having said that, the results are what is important, not just the speed of your surgeon.

There is no such thing as a standard ratio between the different physician's fees. The only way you will notice if a surgeon's operating time is longer or shorter than the national average would be to poll multiple surgeons. Anesthesiologists fees are based on many factors, not just their time. We have used almost only genera anesthesia for most cases for 2 decades and have never seen an anesthesia charge anywhere close to the 50% you mentioned.