Hospital Safety-Net Burden is Associated with Perioperative Outcomes in Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Multistate Retrospective Analysis, 2015-2020.

Abstract

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a widely performed surgical procedure in the United States, but disparities in THA outcomes related to hospital-level factors, such as safety-net burden, are underexplored. This study expands on previous research by analyzing multicenter, multistate data from 2015 to 2020 to investigate the impact of hospital safety-net burden-defined as the proportion of services billed to Medicaid and uninsured patients-on THA outcomes. This study is a retrospective analysis using data from the State Inpatient Databases for Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Washington, New Jersey, and North Carolina. The study cohort included 543,814 inpatient primary THA admissions, with patient demographics, comorbidities, and hospital characteristics analyzed across 3 categories of hospital safety-net burden (low, medium, and high). Generalized linear mixed models assessed the association between safety-net burden and in-hospital mortality and postoperative complications, whereas multilevel negative binomial regression evaluated the impact on hospital length of stay. The study findings indicate that patients undergoing THA at hospitals with high safety-net burden had significantly higher odds of in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.20, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.42), postoperative complications (aOR 1.33, 95% CI 1.20-1.48), and longer hospital stays (adjusted incidence rate ratio 1.15, 95% CI 1.10-1.21) compared with those at low-burden hospitals. These results suggest that hospitals with higher safety-net burden, often serving more vulnerable populations, may have suboptimal perioperative processes and protocols, leading to poorer outcomes. The study underscores the need for targeted interventions to improve THA outcomes in these hospitals.