RESUMO
With the accelerated development of managed care systems in the 1990s, physician practices experienced curtailed authorization for length of stay (LOS) for in-patient care. Using lumbar discectomy (CPT 63030) as a surgical model, we reviewed records of patients from 1994 and 1996 as these two years were within the period of accelerated managed care penetration in our state. The Chi Square and Fisher Exact tests were used to explore statistical significance and differences in population characteristics, management and outcome in the two years. Factors including age, sex, associated medical conditions, other presenting symptoms and signs, cause of disc herniation, and duration of symptoms were not significantly different. We demonstrated that the shortened LOS did not adversely influence the medical or functional outcome from lumbar discectomy but that there appeared to be a shift of the burden of care to the postoperative outpatient setting. Functional outcome was not significantly different between the two years when assessed by either Prolo Outcome or return-to-work rate. These findings were corroborated with a more recent review of patients operated upon in 2000. As spinal surgery grows in complexity, managed care companies should initiate programs that routinely assist physician offices in accelerating postoperative rehabilitation. In addition, as emphasis grows for evaluation and management services, surgical outcome studies should document the intensity of postoperative management to document better the overall nonoperative care that surrounds any spinal surgery.