Medicare Insurance Is Associated with Reduced Hip Arthroscopy Patient-Reported Outcome Measures

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Health Services Research
• Patient-Reported Outcomes

Background:

• Hip arthroscopy (HA) is a common procedure for hip conditions.
• Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are crucial for evaluating HA success.
• Insurance type may influence patient outcomes after HA.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare PROMs after HA between patients with commercial insurance and those with government-provided insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, VA/TRICARE).
• To identify potential disparities in outcomes based on insurance status.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study of 84 patients (≥18 years) undergoing HA.
• Patients categorized into commercial, Medicare, Medicaid, or VA/TRICARE insurance groups.
• PROMs (mHHS, HOS-ADL, HOS-Sports, NHAS) collected at ≥1-year follow-up.

Main Results:

• Medicare patients were significantly older than commercial insurance patients (P=0.002).
• Patients with Medicare showed significantly lower PROMs across all measures compared to commercial insurance.
• No significant PROM differences were observed between commercial insurance and Medicaid or VA/TRICARE groups.

Conclusions:

• Medicare patients experienced significantly lower PROMs after hip arthroscopy compared to commercially insured patients.
• Age and other demographic factors may contribute to these observed differences.
• Further investigation is required to elucidate the relationship between insurance type, demographics, and HA outcomes.