Number of procedures for phase I and phase II of EBI programme*
| Before EBI | After EBI | Total | |
| Phase I procedures (treatment) | |||
| Category 1 | |||
| Intervention for snoring (not OSA) | 667 (56.1%) | 521 (43.9%) | 1188 |
| Dilatation and curettage for heavy menstrual bleeding | 217 (46.6%) | 249 (53.4%) | 466 |
| Knee arthroscopy with osteoarthritis | 3966 (55.8%) | 3147 (44.2%) | 7113 |
| Injection for non-specific low back pain without sciatica | 13 022 (58.7%) | 9164 (41.3%) | 22 186 |
| Total | 17 872 (57.7%) | 13 081 (42.3%) | 30 953 |
| Category 2 | |||
| Breast reduction | 938 (53.8%) | 806 (46.2%) | 1744 |
| Removal of benign skin lesions | 94 427 (50.3%) | 93 347 (49.7%) | 187 774 |
| Grommets | 7007 (53.1%) | 6182 (46.9%) | 13 189 |
| Tonsillectomy | 28 382 (53.9%) | 24 260 (46.1%) | 52 642 |
| Haemorrhoid surgery | 7929 (51.4%) | 7495 (48.6%) | 15 424 |
| Hysterectomy for heavy bleeding | 17 790 (51.4%) | 16 822 (48.6%) | 34 612 |
| Chalazia removal | 4761 (52.9%) | 4239 (47.1%) | 9000 |
| Shoulder decompression | 8947 (56.6%) | 6860 (43.4%) | 15 807 |
| Carpal tunnel syndrome release | 39 162 (51.0%) | 37 677 (49.0%) | 76 839 |
| Dupuytren’s contracture release | 13 965 (51.7%) | 13 050 (48.3%) | 27 015 |
| Ganglion excision | 5035 (51.0%) | 4844 (49.0%) | 9879 |
| Trigger finger release | 7264 (51.4%) | 6865 (48.6%) | 14 129 |
| Varicose vein surgery | 25 693 (52.7%) | 23 044 (47.3%) | 48 737 |
| Total | 261 300 (51.6%) | 245 491 (48.4%) | 506 791 |
| Total (category 1 and 2) | 279 172 (51.9%) | 258 572 (48.1%) | 537 744 |
| Phase II procedures (control) | |||
| Hernia repair | 50 748 (51.5%) | 47 771 (48.5%) | 98 519 |
| Sinus surgery | 11 712 (49.7%) | 11 853 (50.3%) | 23 565 |
| Kidney stone surgery | 13 483 (51.1%) | 12 896 (48.9%) | 26 379 |
| Benign prostatic hypertrophy surgery | 13 502 (49.1%) | 13 988 (50.9%) | 27 490 |
| Total | 89 445 (50.8%) | 86 508 (49.2%) | 175 953 |
*Percentage in parentheses indicates the proportion of procedures undertaken in the 11 months before and after the implementation of EBI in April 2019 for illustrative purposes. However, it should be noted that our difference-in- difference analysis considers longer pre-implementation trend from 1 January 2016 to 31 March 2019. This table was created by the coauthors of this manuscript.
OSA, Obstructive sleep apnoea.