Costs in Colectomy Episodes of Care: Opportunities to Prevent Emergency Operations and Decrease Costs

Payment structured around Episodes of Care is a method for incentivizing decreased care utilization after major procedures. We examined Major Bowel Episodes of Care (MB-EoC)-the focus among general surgery procedures-within a large health system to determine the contribution of emergency bowel surgery to higher costs of care.

Adult MB-EoC cases from July 2018 to June 2021 were reviewed for 90-d costs, examining patient age, insurance, diagnosis, cost of care, and contributors to cost. For patients aged ≥45 y who had nonelective care for colon cancer, incidence of prior screening colonoscopy was examined.

We identified 1292 colectomy cases. Mean age was 65 y. Of these patients, 90% had Medicare/commercial insurance. Colon cancer comprised 41% of primary diagnoses. Twenty-eight percent of cases were nonelective, more likely to have Medicaid/underinsured (21% versus 7%, P < 0.001), and had higher utilization of postdischarge cost-drivers. Ninety-day EoC per case cost was 66% higher for emergent versus elective cases. Of eligible emergency cancer cases, 43% (40/93) had undergone prior colonoscopy within 10 y. For patients with colon cancer, 90-d EoC per case was 39% higher for emergent versus elective cases.

Emergency MB-EoC cases disproportionally contribute to higher 90-d care utilization and costs. Efforts to increase screening colonoscopy in appropriate populations may have a substantial impact on MB-EoC costs.