The value of an organized fracture program for the elderly: early results.

OBJECTIVES

To describe the early financial results of an organized hip fracture program for older adults.

DESIGN

Retrospective evaluation of financial data for a 1-year period on a hip fracture program for older adults.

SETTING

University medical center.

PATIENTS

All 193 adults older than age 60 with a native, nonpathologic hip fracture admitted to the hospital and surgically treated from May 2005 to April 2006 were included as subjects in this study.

INTERVENTION

The comanaged, protocol-driven fracture management program was used as the specific intervention for treating all patients with hip fractures.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

The primary outcome was profit or loss resulting from treatment of patients. Key quality measures studied included length of hospital stay, mortality rates, complication rates, and hospital readmission rates.

RESULTS

With use of an organized program, substantial savings in nearly all areas of expenditure is demonstrated. Adjusting for patient characteristics, costs are demonstrated to be 66.7% of the expected costs nationally. The length of stay, mortality, complication rates, and readmission rates were all noted to be below national averages.

CONCLUSIONS

The improved quality measures suggest that better quality of patient care is associated with reduced costs.