title: Cost savings of hip arthroplasty patients on specialized orthopedic surgery units.
abstract: We retrospectively compared resource use of 2 groups of patients who underwent total hip arthroplasty between 1996 and 2004: those cared for on specialized orthopedic surgery (SOS) units and those cared for on nonorthopedic nursing (NON) units. Of 5546 patients, 5275 (95.1%) were admitted to SOS units and 271 (4.9%) to NON units. Mean overall adjusted cost saving for SOS patients was $622 (SD, $315; 95% CI, $3, $1241). Mean blood bank and room-and-board costs were lower on SOS units: $110 (SD, $36; 95% CI, $40, $181) and $298 (SD, $118; 95% CI, $66, $530), respectively. Difference in length of stay was not significant: mean, 0.19 day; SD, 0.11 day; 95% CI, -0.02 day, 0.40 day. Our results suggest that SOS units, as one way of optimizing patient flow in the postoperative period, may reduce unnecessary inpatients costs.
authors.affiliation: Dartmouth Medical School, and Section of General Internal Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Batsis
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Naessens
authors.forename: Mark T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Keegan
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Huddleston
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Wagie
authors.forename: Jeanne M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Huddleston
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip / Q000191:economics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017046:Cost Savings / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006268:Health Facilities; D017722:Hospital Charges; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota / Q000453:epidemiology; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000191:economics*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate