Volume 9, Number 2—February 2003
Research
Health and Economic Impact of Surgical Site Infections Diagnosed after Hospital Discharge
Eli N. Perencevich*†
, Kenneth E. Sands*†, Sara E. Cosgrove*, Edward Guadagnoli‡, Ellen Meara‡, and Richard Platt§†‡
, Kenneth E. Sands*†, Sara E. Cosgrove*, Edward Guadagnoli‡, Ellen Meara‡, and Richard Platt§†‡
Table 4
Univariate analysis of 8-week postoperative resource utilization, surgical site infections (SSIs) studya
| Cases N=89 |
Controls N=178 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medians or proportions | Means | Medians or proportions | Means | p value | |
| Outpatient visit use |
|||||
| Required outpatient visit |
85 (96) |
153 (86) |
<0.001b |
||
| Outpatient visits per patient |
5 [4, 9] |
7.5 (+/-6.3) |
3 [1, 5] |
3.4 (+/-3.0) |
<0.02c |
| Estimated outpatient visit costs |
$265 [$223, $430] |
$365 (+/-264) |
$146 [$63, $229] |
$160(+/-128) |
<0.001c |
| Lab test ordered by provider |
69 (78) |
143 (80) |
0.66b |
||
| No. of lab tests ordered |
1 [1, 3] |
2.1 (+/-2.5) |
1 [1, 2] |
2.0 (+/-2.3) |
0.58c |
| Patient phoned provider |
77 (87) |
125 (70) |
0.002b |
||
| No. of phone calls made |
3 [2, 6] |
4.7 (+/-4.8) |
1 [0, 4] |
3.0(+/-3.8) |
0.00c |
| Pharmacy use |
|||||
| Standard wholesale costs
for antibiotics per patient |
$34.2 [$78.6, 10.6] |
$60 (+/-71.6) |
$0 [$0, $0] |
$13.6(44.2) |
<0.001c |
| Emergency room use |
|||||
| Patient visits to emergency room |
28 (31) |
16 (9) |
<0.001b |
||
| Emergency room charges per patient |
$0 [$0, $370] |
$333 (+/-729) |
$0 [$0, $0] |
$114 (+/-470) |
<0.001c |
| Radiology services use |
|||||
| Patients who had a radiologic test |
36 (40) |
49 (28) |
0.023b |
||
| Radiology charges per patient |
$0 [$0, $242] |
$1,076 (+/-3,845) |
$0 [$0, 124] |
$587 (+/-2365) |
0.022c |
| Rehospitalization |
|||||
| Patients rehospitalized |
30 (34) |
21 (12) |
<0.001b |
||
| Total rehospitalization charges |
$0 [$0, $4,370] |
$7,925 (+/-22,321) |
$0[$0, $0] |
$2,079 (+/-11,222) |
<0.001c |
| Total rehospitalization costs |
$0 [$0, $1,924] |
$3,489 (+/-9,827) |
$0[$0, $0] |
$916 (+/-4,941) |
<0.001c |
| Visited by provider in hospital |
46(52) |
61(34) |
0.008b |
||
| Inpatient provider visits |
1 [0, 6] |
3.5 (+/-4.5) |
0 [0, 3] |
2.2 (+/-5.3) |
<0.001c |
| Skilled nursing facility use |
|||||
| Skilled nursing facility used |
8 (9) |
8 (4.5) |
0.09b |
||
| Days in skilled nursing facility |
0 [0, 0] |
0.21 (+/-0.83) |
0 [0, 0] |
.21 (+/-1.8) |
0.97c |
| Skilled nursing charges per patient |
$0 [$0, $0] |
$460 (+/-2,198) |
$0 [$0, $0] |
$204 (+/-1,651) |
0.14c |
| Home health aide use |
|||||
| Home health aide used |
55 (62) |
84 (47) |
0.009b |
||
| Home health charges per patient |
$110 [$0, $605] |
$827 (+/-1,765) |
$0 [$0, $275] |
$579 (+/-2,812) |
0.007c |
| Durable equipment use |
|||||
| Durable medical equipment used |
33 (37) |
39 (22) |
0.008b |
||
| Durable medical charges per patient |
$0 [$0, $102] |
$123 (+/-436) |
$0 [$0, $0] |
$69 (+/-223) |
0.013c |
| Total costsd | $1,240 [$445, $4,594] | $5,155 (+/-10,8570 | $300 [$146, $795] | $1,773 (+/-6,344 | <0.001c |
aResults are shown as no. (%), mean (+/- standard deviation) or median [interquartile range] along with p value for comparison of cases with SSI to controls without SSI.
bCohran-Mantel-Haenszel.
c Wilcoxon signed-ranks test.
dTotal costs encompass all emergency, radiology, readmission, skilled nursing, home health, and durable medical charges that have been converted to costs with a cost-to-charge ratio and all estimated outpatient visit and antibiotic costs.
Page created: December 07, 2010
Page updated: December 07, 2010
Page reviewed: December 07, 2010
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