Hospital Readmission and Costs of Total Knee Replacement Surgery in 2009 and 2014

The purpose of this article is to describe changes in hospital readmissions and costs for U.S. hospital patients who underwent Total Knee Replacement (TKR) in 2009 and 2014. Data comes from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project net-Nationwide Readmissions Database. Compared to 2009, overall 30-day rates of readmissions after TKR decreased by 15% in 2014. Rates varied by demographics: readmission rates were lower for younger patients, males, Medicare recipients, and those with higher incomes. Overall, costs rose 20% across TKR groups. This report is among the first to describe changes in hospital readmissions and costs for TKR patients in a national sample of U.S. acute care hospitals. Findings offer hospital managers a mechanism to benchmark their facilities’ performances.