Insurance Status Predicts Hand Therapy Adherence Following Flexor Tendon Repair: A Retrospective Cohort Study".
Plast Reconstr Surg
; 2023 May 16.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37189235
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Many patients are not adherent to hand therapy rehabilitation following surgical repair of traumatic flexor tendon injuries, which can negatively affect surgical outcomes and long-term hand function. We aimed to identify the factors that predict patient non-adherence to hand therapy following flexor tendon repair surgery.METHODS:
This retrospective cohort study included 154 patients who underwent surgical repair of flexor tendon injuries at a level I trauma center between January 2015 and January 2020. A manual chart review was performed to collect demographic data, insurance status, injury characteristics, and details of the postoperative course including health care utilization.RESULTS:
Factors significantly associated with occupational therapy no-shows included Medicaid insurance (OR, 8.35; 95% CI, 2.91 to 24.0; p < 0.001), self-identified Black race (OR, 7.28; 95% CI, 1.78 to 29.7; p = 0.006), and current cigarette smoker status (OR, 2.69; 95% CI, 1.18 to 6.15; p = 0.019). Patients without insurance attended 73.8% of their OT visits and patients with Medicaid attended 72.0% of their visits, which were significantly lower rates than those with private insurance 90.7% (p=0.026 and p=0.001, respectively). Patients with Medicaid were 8 times more likely to seek emergency department care postoperatively than patients with private insurance (p=0.002).CONCLUSIONS:
Significant disparities in hand therapy adherence following flexor tendon repair surgery exist between patients with different insurance statuses, races, and tobacco use. Understanding these disparities can help providers identify at-risk patients to improve hand therapy utilization and postoperative outcomes.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Guideline
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
Plast Reconstr Surg
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article