Infection’s Price Tag = $65 Million

The development of surgical site infections (SSIs) following hip or knee replacement surgery is bad news for all involved. Keith Kaye, M.D., of Detroit Medical Center, Wayne State University, Michigan, has determined that readmission to the hospital for treatment of the complications related to implant wound infections costs $65 million a year.

Kaye and his research team analyzed data from health insurance claims for about 40 million insured individuals covered by employer-based health plans. They wanted to discover the rate of readmission and the financial effects of surgical site infections (SSIs) beyond the initial treatment of the complications.

The prosthetic joint population was important to study because these patients are particularly vulnerable to adverse events following [SSIs], leading to unnecessary pain, suffering and medical costs, ” Kaye said. “Given the government’s focus on reducing readmission rates, such complications could likely be a future target for decreased reimbursement.

Of the 174, 425 patients in the database who underwent hip or knee replacement in 2007, 1.2% were hospitalized for an SSI within one year of their procedure. Of those, more than 12% were readmitted in the following year due to SSI-related issues. The average hospital stay for the readmission was 8.6 days, at a cost of approximately $7, 000 per patient. More than 40% of patients with SSIs were hospitalized for other reasons in the year following their diagnosis with an average hospital stay of 6.2 days.