Journal of the American College of Surgeons
-
In December 2014, a new kidney allocation system (KAS) was implemented nationwide with the goal of improving longevity matching, increasing access to sensitized patients, and improving racial/ethnic disparities. ⋯ Policy changes in organ allocation can have a significant impact on perioperative costs and outcomes, which can have a downstream influence on transplantation center perisurgical care processes.
-
Hospital readmission rates after surgery can represent an overall hospital effect or a combination of specialty and patient effects. We hypothesized that hospital readmission rates for procedures within specialties were more strongly correlated than rates across specialties within the same hospital. ⋯ Hospital readmission rates for orthopaedic, vascular, and general surgery were not correlated between specialties; within each of the 3 specialties, modest correlations were found between 2 procedures within 2 of these specialties. These findings suggest that hospital surgical readmission rates are primarily explained by patient- and procedure-specific factors and less by broader specialty and/or hospital effects.
-
Common duct stones can be diagnosed by magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)/ERCP, and intraoperative cholangiogram (IOC). In 2015, our group adopted a standard approach of preoperative EUS/ERCP followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy for patients with an admission bilirubin >4.0 mg/dL. For bilirubin <4.0 mg/dL, laparoscopic cholecystectomy with IOC was the initial procedure. Postoperative EUS/ERCP with endoscopic sphincterotomy was pursued for positive IOC. Exclusions included clinical suspicion of malignancy and surgically altered anatomy making endoscopic management impractical. ⋯ Protocol-driven management of patients with suspected common duct stones reduced the number of endoscopies and length of hospitalization, with no change in postoperative morbidity. This approach has the potential to decrease endoscopy-related morbidity and overall cost without affecting quality of care.
-
Although the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded Medicaid access, it is unknown whether this has led to greater access to complex surgical care. Evidence on the effect of Medicaid expansion on access to surgical cancer care, a proxy for complex care, is sparse. Using New York's 2001 statewide Medicaid expansion as a natural experiment, we investigated how expansion affected use of surgical cancer care among beneficiaries overall and among racial minorities. ⋯ Pre-ACA Medicaid expansion did not increase the overall use or change the racial composition of beneficiaries of surgical cancer care. However, it successfully shifted the financial burden away from patient/hospital to Medicaid. These results might suggest similar effects in the post-ACA Medicaid expansion.