Background context:

Excessive use of post-operative imaging after lumbar surgery has been documented, becoming a target for cutting costs. This must be balanced with the patient’s need for information and allay their post-operative concerns.

Purpose:

To determine the incidence and associated costs of patient interactions with the healthcare system, outside the standard follow up routine, in the first post-operative year.

Study design:

Retrospective longitudinal cohort PATIENT SAMPLE: Consecutive series of 200 patients who underwent lumbar fusions from 2018-2019 from a multi-surgeon single tertiary spine center.

Outcome measures:

All healthcare encounters: phone calls, office and emergency department visits, and additional testing METHODS: A consecutive series of 200 patients who underwent lumbar fusions from 2018-2019 were identified. All non-routine healthcare encounters: phone calls, office and emergency department visits, and additional testing were collected. Direct costs for all healthcare services were determined using the Medicare Allowable rates. Indirect costs were determined using local, median income, length of office visits, and distance from the clinic to the patient’s home.

Results:

Of 200 patients, 14 with thoracic fusion were excluded. The mean age of the 186 included patients was 58.26 years and 85 (46%) were male. Forty-seven percent (87/186) had only routine post-operative visits and 24 had revision surgery. Seventy-five patients made a total of 102 phone calls, 55 office visits, leading to 38 diagnostic studies none of which led to an additional intervention. Using Medicare Allowable rates, the mean direct cost was $776 per patient and the using a median income of $16/hour the mean indirect cost was $124 per patient. There were no differences in the baseline characteristics among the patients who only had routine post-op encounters, had non-routine encounters or had a repeat surgery.

Conclusion:

Forty percent of the patients undergoing lumbar surgery had a healthcare encounter outside their routine follow up that did not result in additional intervention after their index operation. These potentially unnecessary encounters create additional cost and inconvenience to both the patient and healthcare system. Providing patient reassurance is important and providers should identify ways to reduce associated costs through patient education, virtual visits, or new technologies to monitor patient’s post- operative progress.