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Total joint, spine surgery readmission for SSI often occurs within 30 days
Readmissions for surgical site infection (SSI) were most likely to within the first 30 days of total joint arthroplasty and spine surgery, which placed a high cost burden on hospitals under new federal government mandates, according to New York researchers.
They found 80.4% of spine surgery patients and 58.3% of total joint arthroplasty patients were readmitted within 30 days of surgery between 2007 and 2010, according to the abstract. Among the total joint arthroplasty group, more patients were readmitted for SSI treatment after total hip arthroplasty, researchers noted.
Joseph A Bosco III, MD, and colleagues from the New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City noted the episode-of-care model, which requires hospitals to cover the cost of all care within 30 days of discharge, could have an effect on total joint and spine surgeries.
“With the episode-of-care model, SSIs pose a substantial cost burden for hospitals since the majority would be included in the 30-day period included in the bundled reimbursement,” Bosco and colleagues stated in the abstract.
Forty-six patients underwent spine surgery, while 45 patients had total joint arthroplasty surgery.
Investigators identified no correlation between the type of infecting organism and timing of readmission, according to the abstract.