Study finds racial, gender disparities in access to outpatient TKR for Medicare patients
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Older, Black and female patients have been less likely to undergo outpatient total knee replacement since 2018.
- This highlights concerns of racial and gender disparities.
Results showed older, Black and female patients have been less likely to undergo outpatient total knee replacement after the removal of TKR from the Medicare inpatient-only list in 2018.
Derek T. Schloemann, MD, MPHS, and colleagues used the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System to perform a cohort study on 37,588 Medicare fee-for-service TKR procedures from 2016 to 2019. According to the study, 1,684 outpatient TK procedures were performed from 2018 to 2019.
Researchers found older, Black and female patients as well as patients who underwent their procedure at a safety-net hospital were less likely to undergo outpatient TKR. After the removal of TKR from the Medicare inpatient-only (IPO) list, researchers noted lower 30-day and 90-day readmissions, lower 30-day and 90-day ED visits and higher cost per encounter. However, when comparing these changes to a cohort of patients who underwent total hip replacement during the same time, “IPO policy was not associated with changes in overall health care use or outcomes after TKR, except for an increase of $770 per TKR encounter
“In this cohort study of patients undergoing TKR and THR, we found that older, Black and female patients and patients treated in safety-net hospitals may have had lesser access to outpatient TKRs highlighting concerns of disparities,” they concluded.
Collapse
Schloemann DT, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.16769.
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts