Trends in Urgent Care Utilization Following Ankle Fracture Fixation

Category: Ankle Introduction/Purpose: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services (CMS) have implemented initiatives to improve post-discharge care and reduce unnecessary readmissions. Readmissions within 30-days are frequent and represent an economic burden on patients and the healthcare system alike. A recent study reported a 3.17% readmission rate after open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of ankle fractures. While readmission implies inpatient-discharge to inpatient-readmission, patients may present to urgent care facilities and receive medical treatment without being admitted. This too has socioeconomic implications. The incidence and reasons for urgent care visits following ankle fracture surgery has not been studied. The aim of this study is to evaluate the frequency and causes for urgent care visits within 30-days of discharge after ankle ORIF and determine factors correlated with such visits. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. All patients who underwent ankle ORIF at our institution between 7/1/2016 and 6/30/2017 were included. Patients were identified using CPT codes for ankle ORIF ((27814, 27822, 27823, 27792, 27766, and 27829). Patients less than 18 years of age, with open fractures or with other appendicular or axial skeleton injuries were excluded. Patients’ demographics including age, sex, race, BMI, occupation, insurance payer and comorbidities were documented. The primary outcome of our study was to determine the frequency of urgent care visits within 30-days of discharge after ankle ORIF. Our secondary goals were to evaluate the association between urgent care visits and demographics, and identify the reason for post-operative urgent care utilization. Results: A total of 333 patients met the inclusion criteria. Fifty four percent of our cohort were males. Thirty five patients (10.51%) had urgent care visits with 30-days of discharge. Patients presented at a mean of 11.83 days from the day of surgery. Sixteen patients (45.71%) had cast/splint related issues, seven (20%) presented with pain and seven (20%) with increased surgical site drainage (Fig 1). Univariable analysis demonstrated a statistically significant association between post-operative urgent care utilization and patients with diabetes (p=0.03) and underlying psychiatric disorders (p=0.03). Conclusion: In this population study of patients undergoing ankle fracture surgery who underwent ankle ORIF, we found that the rate of urgen