Outpatient TKA yielded higher readmission rates in Medicare patients vs. inpatient TKA

CHICAGO — Medicare patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty classified as outpatients had higher readmissions and rates of discharge to nursing facilities than those who had surgery as inpatients, according to results presented here.
Using an administrative claims database, Robert A. Burnett III, MD, and colleagues compared demographics, comorbidities, length of stay, discharge disposition and 90-day medical and surgical complications between Medicare patients who underwent TKA with an inpatient status (n=63,356) to those with an outpatient status (n=38,510) from 2018 to 2020.

CHICAGO — Medicare patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty classified as outpatients had higher readmissions and rates of discharge to nursing facilities than those who had surgery as inpatients, according to results presented here.
Using an administrative claims database, Robert A. Burnett III, MD, and colleagues compared demographics, comorbidities, length of stay, discharge disposition and 90-day medical and surgical complications between Medicare patients who underwent TKA with an inpatient status (n=63,356) to those with an outpatient status (n=38,510) from 2018 to 2020.