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OBJECTIVE: A monitoring pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) is utilized in approximately 34% of the US cardiac surgical procedures. Increased use of PAC has been reported to have an association with complication rates: significant decreases in new-onset heart failure (HF) and respiratory failure (RF), but increases in bacteremia and urinary tract infections. We assessed the impact of increasing PAC adoption on hospital costs among cardiac surgery patients for US-based healthcare systems. METHODS: An Excel-based economic model calculated annualized savings for a US hospital with various cardiac surgical volumes and PAC adoption rates. A second model, for an integrated payer-provider health system, analyzed outcomes/costs resulting from the cardiac surgical admission and for the treatment of persistent HF and RF complications in the year following surgery. Model inputs were extracted from published literature, and one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed. RESULTS: For an acute care hospital with 500 procedures/year and 34% PAC adoption, annualized savings equalled $61,806 vs no PAC utilization. An increase in PAC adoption rate led to increased savings of $134,751 for 75% and $170,685 for 95% adoption. Savings ranged from $12,361 to $185,418 at volumes of 100 and 1500 procedures/year, respectively. For an integrated payer-provider health system with the base-case scenario of 3845 procedures/year and 34% PAC adoption, estimated savings were $596,637 for the combined surgical index admission and treatment for related complications over the following year. CONCLUSION: PAC utilization in adult cardiac surgery patients results in reduced costs for both acute care hospitals and payer-provider integrated health systems.
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PURPOSE: This study examined postoperative heart failure (HF) and respiratory failure (RF) complications and related healthcare utilization for one year following cardiac surgery. METHODS: This study identified adult patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and/or valve procedures from the Cerner Health Facts® database. It included patients experiencing postoperative HF or RF complications. We quantified healthcare utilization using the frequency of inpatient admissions, emergency department (ED) visits with or without hospital admission, and outpatient visits. We then determined direct hospital costs from the determined healthcare utilization. We analyzed trends over time for both HF and RF and evaluated the association between surgery type and HF complication. RESULTS: Of 10,298 patients with HF complications, 1,714 patients (16.6%) developed persistent HF; of the 10,385 RF patients, 175 (1.7%) developed persistent RF. Healthcare utilization for those with persistent complications over the one-year period following index hospital discharge comprised an average number of the following visit types: Inpatient (1.49 HF; 1.55 RF), Outpatient (2.02, 0.51), ED without hospital admission (0.33, 0.13), ED + Inpatient (0.08, 0.06). Per patient annual costs related to persistent complications of HF and RF were $20,857 and $30,745, respectively. There was a significant association between cardiac surgical type and the incidence of HF, with risk for isolated valve procedures (adjusted OR 2.60; 95% CI: 2.35-2.88) and CABG + valve procedures (adjusted OR 2.38; 95% CI: 2.17-2.61) exceeding risk for isolated CABG procedures. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that HF and RF complication rates post cardiac surgery are substantial, and complication-related healthcare utilization over the first year following surgery results in significant incremental costs. Given the need for both payers and providers to focus on healthcare cost reduction, this study fills an important gap in quantifying the mid-term economic impact of postoperative cardiac surgical complications.