Variations in the quality of care delivered to patients undergoing total knee replacement at 3 affiliated hospitals.

While excellent clinical results have been seen with total knee replacement (TKR), extensive documentation exists in variations in outcomes due to factors such as hospital and surgeon volume. The hypothesis of this study was that statistically significant variation exists in the processes of care delivered to patients undergoing TKR at 3 affiliated hospitals.Retrospective chart review was used to compare the quality of care delivered to a sample of patients from an academic medical center, public county hospital, and private community hospital. Two hundred twenty-four patients undergoing primary TKR were included. Quality of care was measured by determining adherence to a set of 31 evidence-based quality indicators created using the RAND/UCLA modified Delphi expert panel methodology. The overall rate of adherence to the quality indicators was 53% (95% confidence interval [CI], 52%-55%) for the 224 patients. There was a statistically significant difference between sites, with patients treated at the high-volume academic center demonstrating a 58% rate of adherence (95% CI, 56%-61%) compared with 50% (95% CI, 48-51%; P =.008) at the lower-volume public hospital and 52% (95% CI, 51%-54%; P =.03) at the lower-volume private hospital.Further study is warranted to determine the extent of variation in the delivery of care and its relationship to variation in outcomes of care for patients undergoing TKR.