Among more specialized hospitals, there were fewer serious post-surgical complications such as blood clots, infections and heart problems, as well as fewer deaths.
The findings, which were published online Feb. 11 by the British Medical Journal, were based on data for nearly 1.3 million patients who received hip or knee replacement surgeries between 2001 and 2005 at 3,818 hospitals in the United States.
“The findings suggest that more specialized hospitals have better outcomes even after we account for the type of patients each hospital cares for and the number of hip and knee replacement surgeries that each hospital performs,” said the study’s lead author Tyson Hagen, M.D., fellow in rheumatology at the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and UI Hospitals and Clinics.
Wow! Isn’t that odd?? You mean to tell me that focus and expertise is better than being scattered and generalized? Or a factory that makes one part for a car is better than a factory that makes all parts???
What makes sense in healthcare surely isn’t what happens.
Better Outcomes for Hospitals that Specialize in Orthopedic Procedures