Patients With Medicaid Insurance Undergoing Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction have Lower Postoperative International Knee Documentation Committee Scores and are Less Likely to Return to Sport Than Privately Insured Patients.

PURPOSE

To determine whether patients insured through Medicaid exhibit differences in patient-reported outcomes, return to sport rates, and reinjury and reoperation metrics after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction compared with patients insured with private insurance.

METHODS

Patients insured through Medicaid who had undergone a primary ACL reconstruction were identified and compared with a matched cohort of patients insured through private insurance with the same age and sex. Patients were contacted via telephone and emailed a questionnaire containing the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score, return to sport questions, and reinjury and reoperation metrics. Physical therapy (PT) notes were also reviewed to determine number of PT visits attended and distance from patients' home address to PT facility.

RESULTS

A total of 26 patients insured through Medicaid and 25 insured through private insurance were enrolled in this study. The 2 groups demonstrated no statistically significant differences in age, body mass index, or sex. There were no differences in preoperative meniscus injuries or concomitant meniscus repair or meniscectomy procedures between the 2 groups. There were no differences in preoperative IKDC scores; however, the Medicaid group demonstrated a significantly lower postoperative IKDC score (74.7 vs 90.5;  = .005). Patients insured through Medicaid also demonstrated a significantly lower rate of return to sport and attended significantly fewer PT visits following surgery. There were no significant differences in reinjury or reoperation to the index knee between the 2 groups. The threshold number of PT visits for return to sport was determined to be 31.5 visits. Within the private insurance cohort, 17 of 23 patients (73.9%) exceeded this threshold. However, in the Medicaid cohort, 5 of 18 patients (27.8%) exceeded this threshold.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with Medicaid insurance undergoing ACL reconstruction had lower postoperative IKDC scores and were less likely overall to return to sport than their private insurance counterparts at final follow-up in this study. Preoperative IKDC scores, incidence of preoperative meniscus injury, number of concomitant meniscus procedures, average distance from home to PT facility, return to same level of sport, and reinjury and reoperation rate were similar between groups. However, the number of postoperative PT sessions attended by patients insured through Medicaid was significantly lower than private insurance patients.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

III, retrospective comparative study.