Complication rates following hip arthroscopy in the ambulatory surgical center

There has been an increase in the number of hip arthroscopy procedures performed in the outpatient setting. The purpose of this study was to query a national database to compare post-operative adverse events between hip arthroscopy procedures performed in hospital based outpatient departments (HOPD) versus ASC's. The Humana Claims Database was queried for all patients undergoing hip arthroscopy performed between 2007 and 2016, using the PearlDiver supercomputer. The study population was divided into two cohorts based on the surgical setting, ASC or HOPD. Complications of interest occurring within 90 days after surgery included Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)-reportable complications, readmission, and return to the operating room. Visits to the emergency department after 7 days of surgery was also studied. Univariate comparisons between ASC and HOPD groups were drawn with chi-square tests for categorical variables and t-tests for continuous variables. Logistic regression models were created to determine the association between surgical setting and primary outcomes. Rates of 90-day CMS-reportable complications (2.95% vs 2.17%%; p = 0.193), 90-day readmission (4.95% vs 4.25%; p = 0.370) and return to the operating room within 90 days (0.07% vs 0.2%; p = 0.286) were not significantly different between groups. Rate of visits to the emergency department within 7 days was not statistically different between groups (2.57% vs 3.03%; p = 0.458). With the ASC group as reference, no statistically significant association between an outcome and surgical setting was detected after adjusting for confounding factors including comorbidity burden. These findings provide reassurance to providers who perform these procedures in either surgical setting.