Abstract

INTRO: Long-term trajectories of healthcare utilization in the context of surgery have not been well characterized. The objective of this study was to examine healthcare utilization trajectories among surgical patients and identify factors associated with high utilization that could possibly be mitigated following surgical admissions.METHODS: Hospital medical-surgical admissions within 2 years of an index inpatient surgery in the Veterans Health Administration (10/1/2007-9/30/2014) were identified. Group-based trajectory analysis identified five distinct trajectories of inpatient admissions around surgery. Characteristics of trajectories of utilization were compared across groups using bivariate statistics and multivariate logistic regression.RESULTS: Of 280,681 surgery inpatients, most underwent orthopedic (29.2%), general (28.4%), or peripheral vascular procedures (12.2%). Five trajectories of healthcare utilization were identified with 5.2% of patients among consistently high inpatient utilizers accounting for 34.0% of inpatient days. Male (95.4% vs. 93.5%, p<0.01), African American (21.6% vs. 17.3%, p<0.01), or unmarried patients (61.6% vs. 52.5%, p<0.01) were more likely to be high utilizers as compared to other trajectories. High utilizers also had a higher comorbidity burden and a strikingly higher burden of mental health diagnoses (depression: 30.3% vs. 16.3%; bipolar disorder: 5.3% vs. 2.1%, p<0.01), social/behavioral risk factors (smoker: 41.1% vs. 33.6%, p<0.01; alcohol use disorder: 28.9% vs. 12.9%, p<0.01), and chronic pain (6.4% vs. 2.8%, p<0.01).CONCLUSION: Mental health, social/behavioral, and pain-related factors are independently associated with high pre- and postoperative healthcare utilization in surgical patients. Connecting patients to social workers and mental health care coordinators around the time of surgery may mitigate the risk of postoperative readmissions related to these factors.

View details for PubMedID 30359825