• Umang Jain, Rakesh K Chandra, Stephanie S Smith, Matthew Pilecki, and John Y S Kim.
• Division of Surgery, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois.
• Laryngoscope. 2014 Aug 1;124(8):1783-8.

Objectives/HypothesisHospital readmissions increase costs to hospitals and patients. There is a paucity of data on benchmark rates of readmission for otolaryngological surgery. Understanding the risk factors that increase readmission rates may help enhance patient education and set system-wide expectations. We aimed to provide benchmark data on causes and predictors of readmission following outpatient otolaryngological surgery.Study DesignThis study is a retrospective analysis of the 2011 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) dataset.MethodsNSQIP was reviewed for outpatients with "Otolaryngology (ENT)" as their recorded surgical specialty. Readmission was tracked through the "Unplanned Readmission" variable. Patient characteristics and outcomes were compared using chi-square analysis and student t tests for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis investigated predictors of readmission.ResultsA total of 6,788 outpatient otolaryngological surgery patients were isolated. The unplanned readmission rate was 2.01%. Multivariate regression analysis revealed superficial surgical site infection (odds ratio [OR] 2.672, confidence interval [CI] 1.133-6.304, P = .025) and work relative value units (RVU) (OR .972, CI .944-1, P = .049) to be significant predictors of readmission.ConclusionOutpatient otolaryngological surgery has an associated 2.01% unplanned readmission rate. Superficial surgical site infection and work RVUs proved to be significant positive and negative risk factors, respectively, for readmission. These findings will help to benchmark outpatient readmission rates and manage patient and hospital system expectations.© 2014 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

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