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Outpatient Surgery as a Means of Cost Reduction in Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Case-Control Study

  • Original Article
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HSS Journal ®

Abstract

Background

The current healthcare market coupled with expedited recovery and improvements in analgesia have led to the development of total hip arthroplasty being performed as an outpatient procedure in selected patients.

Questions/Purposes

The purpose of this study is to compare outcomes and cost-effectiveness of traditional inpatient THA with outpatient hip replacement at the same facility.

Patients and Methods

This observational, case-control study was conducted from 2008 to 2011. One hundred nineteen patients underwent outpatient THA through a direct anterior approach. These cases were all performed by a single surgeon. Outpatient cases were then compared to inpatient hospital controls performed by the same surgeon at the inpatient hospital facility.

Results

Complications, length of stay, demographic data, and overall costs were compared between groups. There was no difference in complications or estimated blood loss between groups. Most notably, the average overall cost in the outpatient setting was significantly lower than inpatient, $24,529 versus $31,327 (p = 0.0001).

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that appropriately selected patients can undergo THA in an outpatient setting with no increase in complications and at a substantial savings to the healthcare system.

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Disclosures

Conflict of Interest:

Michael Aynardi, MD, Zachary Post, MD, and Dean C. Sukin, MD have declared that they have no conflict of interest. Alvin Ong, MD reports personal fees from Stryker and Smith and Nephew, outside the work. Fabio Orozco, MD reports personal fees from Stryker, outside the work.

Human/Animal Rights:

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 (5).

Informed Consent:

Informed consent was waived from all patients for being included in the study.

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Correspondence to Michael Aynardi MD.

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Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Study Level III

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Aynardi, M., Post, Z., Ong, A. et al. Outpatient Surgery as a Means of Cost Reduction in Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Case-Control Study. HSS Jrnl 10, 252–255 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-014-9401-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-014-9401-0

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