Periacetabular Osteotomy Often Results in Inpatient Stay: A Tertiary Referral Institution's Experience Supporting This Common Postoperative Course.

Background: Periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is a complex procedure historically requiring inpatient stay. However, there is increased emphasis for other complex orthopaedic procedures (eg, arthroplasty) to be performed on an outpatient basis by insurance companies. Increasing resistance to insurance approval of inpatient listing for PAO patients at the participating institution suggests that this changing tide is affecting PAO surgery.

Purpose: To (1) investigate the proportion of PAOs various surgical listing classifications (outpatient, outpatient-overnight, inpatient, etc), (2) determine the incidence of subsequent denial/request for additional documentation for approval of inpatient stay after PAO, and (3) characterize the accuracy of preoperative patient listing classification as well as mean length of stay (LOS) and incidence of successful same-day discharge after PAO at a single institution.

Study design: Case series; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed to identify all PAOs, performed by 4 participating surgeons, at a single academic institution over a 2-year period. The initial listing status as an outpatient-overnight or inpatient procedure was identified. Whether a preoperative peer review was required for approval of inpatient listings as well as if additional documentation was necessary to convert outpatient-overnight listings to inpatient stays were also recorded.

Results: A total of 140 PAOs among 117 patients were performed with 25 (17.9%) initially listed as an inpatient stay and 115 (82.1%) listed as outpatient-overnight. Of the 25 PAOs listed as inpatient, 2 (8.0%) required a preoperative peer review process to justify or clarify listing status. The mean LOS was 1.9 ± 1.4 days with 55.7% (78/140) of PAOs staying ≥2 nights in the hospital. Only 6 PAOs (4.3%) went home the same day as surgery. Patients who underwent PAO with concomitant hip arthroscopy stayed on average 2.4 ± 1.2 days in comparison with 1.6 ± 1.4 days for those who underwent PAO alone (P < .001). Of the 115 PAOs listed as an outpatient-overnight, 53 (46.1%) converted to an inpatient stay, all of which required service documentation to support conversion to inpatient status.

Conclusion: Over half of PAOs performed resulted in an inpatient stay with patients spending ≥2 nights in the hospital. Additionally, all conversions from outpatient-overnight to inpatient required additional service documentation to support status conversion. Understanding trends in postoperative hospitalizations and LOS may allow for better informed partnerships between surgeons and insurance companies creating more efficient preauthorizations, billing practices, and expected patterns of patient care and discharge.