This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Study supports inclusion of emergency department visits after TJA in quality measures
Recently published data indicated that following hospital discharge after total hip or knee arthroplasty, some patients may present to emergency departments and that these visits should be included in hospital-based acute care measures to accurately reflect quality of care.
Using discharge and emergency department data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, researchers conducted a retrospective study of 272,853 discharges from 517 hospitals. Investigators included all patients who underwent either total hip or knee arthroplasty. Hospital readmission, emergency department visits and a composite measure of hospital-based acute care 30 days after discharge were the primary outcomes of the study.
Roman Trimba
Results showed the median risk-standardized hospital-based acute rate at 30 days of discharge was 10%. Investigators noted hospitals’ risk-standardized readmission rates were not correlated with the rates of emergency department visits. They also found wide variation for risk-standardized readmission. According to researchers, if the emergency visits were included in a broader readmission measure, then the perceived performance of 246 hospitals in the study would change. ‒ by Monica Jaramillo
Disclosures: Trimba reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.