Perioperative population management for primary hip arthroplasty reduces hospital and postacute care utilization while maintaining or improving care quality

Abstract

Study objectivePhysician-led multidisciplinary care coordination decreases hospital-associated care needs. We aimed to determine whether such care coordination can show benefits through the posthospital discharge period for elective hip surgery. DesignTime Series of prospectively recorded and historical data. SettingAcademic tertiary care medical center and health system. Patients449 patients undergoing elective primary hip surgery. InterventionsFor the intervention group we redesigned care with a comprehensive 14–16 week multidisciplinary standardized clinical pathway, the Ochsner hip arthroplasty perioperative surgical home (PSH). Essential pathway components were preoperative medical risk assessment, frailty scoring, home assessment, education and expectation setting. Collaborative team-based care, rigorous application of perioperative milestones, and proactive postoperative care coordination were key elements. MeasurementsThe intervention group was compared to historical controls with regard to demographics, risk factors, quality metrics, resource utilization and discharge disposition, the primary outcomes were hospital length of stay and postacute facility utilization. Main resultsCompared to historical controls, the intervention group had similar risk factors and the same or better quality outcomes. It had less combined skilled nursing facility (SNF) and inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) utilization compared to controls (16.5% vs. 27.5%). More intervention patients were discharged with home self-care compared to historical controls (10.7% vs 5.3%). During the intervention period combined SNF/IRF utilization decreased substantially from 19.8% early on, to 13.2% during a later phase. Intervention patients had fewer hospital days compared to historical controls (1.86 vs 3.34 days, respectively; P < 0.0001). ConclusionsA perioperative population management oriented care model redesign was effective in decreasing hospital days and postacute facility-based care utilization, while quality metrics were maintained or improved.