Patient-level costs for primary elective inpatient total shoulder arthroplasty were higher than those for outpatient procedures, according to research published in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery.
Researchers used the Texas Health Care Information Collection database to analyze outpatient and inpatient total shoulder arthroplasties performed between 2010 and 2015 for patient-level costs determined by whether a surgery center was inpatient or outpatient, as well as a center's volume. of the study examined 21,331 inpatient total shoulder arthroplasties and 1,542 outpatient total shoulder arthroplasties performed in Texas.
Four details:
1. The study found inpatient costs were significantly higher than outpatient costs for total shoulder arthroplasty, at $76,109 and $22,907, respectively.
2. Even after excluding inpatient-specific charges, inpatient total shoulder arthroplasty was 41.1 percent more expensive than outpatient.
3. High-volume inpatient total shoulder arthroplasty was less expensive than low-volume inpatient total shoulder arthroplasty, but it was 33.4 percent more costly than high-volume outpatient total shoulder arthroplasty, even after excluding inpatient-specific charges.
4. High-volume inpatient total shoulder arthroplasty was $30,579, compared to $22,907 for high-volume outpatient total shoulder arthroplasty.
"In the state of Texas, the patient-level costs of primary elective inpatient total shoulder arthroplasty were significantly higher than those of the equivalent outpatient procedure," researchers concluded. "This difference persisted after exclusion of low-volume inpatient total shoulder arthroplasty centers and inpatient-specific ancillary charges."