• Rajkishen Narayanan, Olivia A Opara, Adam Kohring, Yunsoo Lee, Preston Carey, Rioke M Diejomaoh, Cordero McCall, Sean Lowitz, Julian Takagi-Stewart, Evan Bradley, Mark F Kurd, Ian D Kaye, John J Mangan, Jose A Canseco, Alan S Hilibrand, Alexander R Vaccaro, Christopher K Kepler, and Gregory D Schroeder.
• Rothman Orthopaedic Institute at Thomas Jefferson University.
• Spine. 2024 Jun 19.

Study DesignA retrospective study.ObjectiveTo compare the perioperative and postoperative outcomes among lumbar fusion patients treated at an orthopaedic specialty hospital (OSH), a hybrid community hospital (HCH), and a conventional community hospital in comparison to a tertiary care hospital (TCH).Summary Of Background DataIn spine surgery, strategies to reduce length of stay (LOS) include a myriad of pre-, intra-, and postoperative strategies that require a multidisciplinary infrastructure. The sum of these efforts has led to the creation of orthopedic specialty hospitals and protocols that have been adopted by community hospitals as well. There is a notable lack of information regarding the results of these efforts across different healthcare institution models.MethodsThis was a retrospective study of patients undergoing elective one or two-level lumbar fusion between 2017 and 2022 at a large urban TCH, an OSH, a HCH, and a conventional CH. Data was collected on patient characteristics, demographics, comorbidities, BMI, smoking status, surgical type, surgical levels, surgery duration, hospital length of stay, readmissions, reoperations, and discharge status within a year. Patients across the four surgical settings were matched based on age, BMI, CCI, type of procedure, and number of levels fused.ResultsA total of 1435 patients met the inclusion criteria. Length of hospital stay was significantly longer at TCH compared to OSH, HCH, and CH by an average of 1-2 days (P<0.001). 90-day readmissions were higher at TCH compared to OSH (P=0.001). TCH patients also were less likely to be discharged home than OSH and HCH patients (P=0.001 and P=0.016, respectively). No significant differences were noted in 1-year reoperation rates across all hospital models.ConclusionShorter lengths of stays and more home discharges at the orthopaedic specialty hospital and community hospital settings did not compromise surgical quality or postoperative outcomes.Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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