Data Show Increased Readmissions After Shoulder Arthroplasty

A recently published study found substantial readmission rates for patients after shoulder hemiarthroplasty, total shoulder arthroplasty and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty, with readmission mostly occurring in the first 30 days of discharge for some procedures.

“Readmission within the first 90 days after shoulder arthroplasty occurred in 5.9 percent of patients,” Andrew Mahoney, M.D., of New York, and colleagues wrote in the abstract. “In addition, most readmissions after HA [hemiarthroplasty] and RTSA [reverse total shoulder arthroplasty] occurred within 30 days of discharge.”

Mahoney and colleagues retrospectively studied 680 cases of shoulder arthroplasty performed between 2005 and 2011. They focused the investigation on readmission rates at the 30-day, 60-day and 90-day postoperative time points.

The readmission rates at 90 days after discharge for HA, total shoulder arthroplasty and RTSA were 8.8 percent, 4.5 percent, and 6.6 percent, respectively. In the HA and RTSA cohorts, readmissions after 30 days of discharge significantly were more common than readmissions within 30 days or less. Incidents of never events constituted 1 percent of the patient cohort and the incidence was similar in all three groups.

“As health care expenditures become more closely scrutinized, readmission rates after shoulder arthroplasty will become increasingly important,” the researchers wrote.