TITLE:
Do unemployment and payor category impact length of stay and hospital charges of spine fusion patients?
AUTHORS:
Mohammad Sami Walid, Nadezhda Zaytseva, Aaron C. M. Barth, Joe Sam Robinson Jr.
KEYWORDS:
Spine Fusion; Hospital Charges; Payor Category
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.4 No.3,
March
31,
2012
ABSTRACT: Introduction: In this paper we investigate the possible connection between socioeconomic status as demarcated by employment and in-surance status and consumption of healthcare resources in spine surgery patients. Methods: The clinical records of 1599 spine surgery pa-tients counted from 2008-2009 were reviewed. The largest groups of patients belonged to MS-DRG 460 (N = 585) and to MS-DRG 473 (N = 700). These two MS-DRG patient groups were used as the study cohort representing patients who, by definition, did not have serious comor-bidities or complications. Results: Unemployed non-cervical patients tended to stay on average 1.8 days longer in hospital and had on average $5800 higher hospital charges. No major differ-ences were noted in length of stay and hospital cost between government and private insurance patients. However, self-pay non-cervical fusion patients had notable increases in length of stay and hospital cost, especially in the >39 and