Senior Citizens Do Best in Specialized Orthopedic Surgical Care: Medicare Study

The more specialized a hospital is in orthopedic surgical care, the better the outcomes appear to be for senior citizen patients undergoing hip and knee replacement surgery, University of Iowa researchers report in a new study of Medicare patients.

Among more specialized hospitals, there were fewer serious post-surgical complications such as blood clots, infections and heart problems, as well as fewer deaths.

The findings, which were published online Feb. 11 by the British Medical Journal, were based on data for nearly 1.3 million patients who received hip or knee replacement surgeries between 2001 and 2005 at 3,818 hospitals in the United States.
Continue Reading

Related articles by Zemanta

• Medicare data reveals differences in orthopedic surgical outcomes (scienceblog.com)