Download PDF
J Knee Surg 2025; 38(02): 089-098
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1792019
Original Article

Distinct Care Needs and Episodes of Care: Comparing Medical versus Orthopaedic Readmissions after Elective Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty

Authors

  • Oguz Turan

    1   Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
    2   College of Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio

  • Michael S. Ramos

    1   Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio

  • Ignacio Pasqualini

    1   Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
    • Cleveland Clinic Adult Reconstruction Research Group,

  • Nicolas S. Piuzzi 

    1   Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
    3   Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio

Funding None.
Further Information
   Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Hospital readmissions after primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) significantly drive health care expenditure and resource utilization. Recent studies have suggested differences between medical and orthopaedic readmissions after TKA and their episodes of care (EOCs) but lack patient-level data reporting. This study aimed to compare EOCs for medical and orthopaedic-related readmissions regarding initial readmission wards, services consulted, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, blood transfusions, surgical interventions, length of stay, and discharge disposition.

All patients enrolled in a prospective data collection system at a tertiary medical center undergoing elective, unilateral, primary TKA from 2016 to 2020 and readmitted within 90 days of discharge were included. Readmissions were categorized as related to medical or orthopaedic causes. Patients' electronic medical records were reviewed to collect demographic and clinical information about EOC associated with the readmission hospital course.

In total, 82.4% (580/704) of 90-day readmissions after elective, primary TKA were related to medical causes, with the remaining 17.6% (124/704) of readmissions due to orthopaedic causes. Medical readmissions most often pertained to gastrointestinal complaints, while wound complications accounted for most orthopaedic readmissions. Most readmissions (63.1%, 444/704) occurred within the first 30 days after TKA. Patients with medical and orthopaedic readmissions had differences in EOC, such that more medical readmissions required ICU care (10.6 vs. 1.6%, p < 0.001), and more patients with orthopaedic readmissions needed a surgical intervention (65.4 vs. 6.7%, p < 0.001).

By understanding differences in EOC for medical and orthopaedic readmissions after TKA, targeted initiatives can be developed to deliver more efficient, cost-effective orthopaedic surgical care, as the orthopaedic surgical community continues to provide value-based care.

Keywords

total knee arthroplasty - TKA - readmission - complications

* Members of the Cleveland Clinic Adult Reconstruction Research: Joshua L. Tidd, BS, Pedro J. Rullan, MD, Lakshmi S. Gudapati, MS, Alison K. Klika, MS, Robert M. Molloy, MD, Viktor E. Krebs, MD, Trevor G. Murray, MD, Michael R. Bloomfield, MD, John P. McLaughlin, DO, Matthew E. Deren, MD.




Publication History

Received: 05 September 2024

Accepted: 30 September 2024

Article published online:
04 November 2024

© 2024. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.
333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA