Hospital-Based Acute Care After Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty: Implications for Quality Measurement
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2016
Abstract
Background
Although hospital readmissions are being adopted as a quality measure after total hip or knee arthroplasty, they may fail accurately capture the patient’s postdischarge experience.
Methods
We studied 272,853 discharges from 517 hospitals to determine hospital emergency department (ED) visit and readmission rates.
Results
The hospital-level, 30-day, risk-standardized ED visit (median = 5.6% [2.4%-13.7%]) and hospital readmission (5.0% [2.6%-9.2%]) rates were similar and varied widely. A hospital’s risk-standardized ED visit rate did not correlate with its readmission rate (r = −0.03, P = .50). If ED visits were included in a broader “readmission” measure, 246 (47.6%) hospitals would change perceived performance groups.
Conclusion
Including ED visits in a broader, hospital-based, acute care measure may be warranted to better describe postdischarge health care utilization.
Repository Citation
Trimba, R.,
Laughlin, R. T.,
Krishnamurthy, A.,
& Fox, J. P.
(2016). Hospital-Based Acute Care After Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty: Implications for Quality Measurement. The Journal of Arthroplasty, 31 (3), 573-578.
https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/orthopaedics/63
DOI
10.1016/j.arth.2015.10.019
