Workers' Compensation Status Confers a Greater Number of Postoperative Visits After Common Upper Extremity Surgeries

Background The impact of Workers' Compensation (WC) status on postoperative healthcare utilization in hand and wrist surgery clinical practice is presently unclear. The purpose of this study was to compare the number of postoperative visits in WC to non-WC patients after common upper extremity surgical procedures. Methodology All patients who underwent one of four common surgical procedures (carpal tunnel release, De Quervain's release, cubital tunnel release, and trigger finger release) between 2016 and 2019 were identified. A total of 64 surgeries billed under WC were randomly selected and matched 1:1 to surgeries billed outside of WC based on the primary CPT code. Results The most common procedure was carpal tunnel release (42 patients), followed by trigger finger release (30 patients), cubital tunnel release (28 patients), and De Quervain's release (16 patients). The average number of postoperative visits was 2.3 (median = 2, range: 1-9) and was significantly higher in the WC group (mean/median = 3.0/3 versus 1.5/1, p < 0.001). Within the 90-day global postoperative billing period, the mean number of visits was 2.2 (median = 2, range: 1-4) in the WC group and 1.4 (median = 1, range: 1-3) in the non-WC group (p < 0.001). The average time to clinical discharge in the WC group was 101 days (range: 10-446 days), and in the non-WC group was 40 days (range: 7-474 days) (p < 0.001). Five patients (7.8%) in the WC group and four patients (6.3%) in the non-WC group were seen for unplanned visits after clinical discharge. Conclusions WC status conferred more postoperative visits after common upper extremity surgical procedures, both within and beyond the global billing period. Further investigation and targeted strategies are required to address the observed increase in healthcare utilization.