According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, for patients who need complex surgery, the best surgeon may be one who specializes in one procedure. New research shows that specialists reduced mortality rates for certain procedures by as much as half.

When interviewed for the article, STS member Dr. Robert Higgins, director of the department of surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine, explained that busy hospitals may also benefit from experienced health care teams who care for patients before, throughout, and after surgery. “These are not surgeons working in isolation,” he said.

Read the full article.