Bariatric Surgery Patients Have 67 Percent Lower Chance of Complications at Top-Performing Hospitals
HealthGrades recognized 88 hospitals as 2009/2010 Bariatric Surgery Five-Star hospitals. This places them within the top 15% of all hospitals nationwide for bariatric surgery. Additionally, 45 hospitals were recognized as HealthGrades Bariatric Surgery Excellence Award recipients, placing them in the top 10% of hospitals nationwide for bariatric surgery. In The HealthGrades Fourth Annual Bariatric Surgery Trends in American Hospitals Study, HealthGrades evaluated the quality of bariatric surgery in hospitals across 19 states that provide information on all patients.
Due to the growing number of obese Americans and the explosion of bariatric surgery programs in the U.S., patients have many choices when it comes to selecting a program. This study has found a wide variation in the quality and outcomes of these programs. Because bariatric surgery is an elective procedure, patients have the time to thoroughly investigate their surgeon and hospital before making a decision on where to have the surgery performed.
As other studies have found, high bariatric surgery volumes correlated with better inhospital outcomes. In this study, higher-volume programs, those with greater than 375 cases over three years, had a 32% lower risk of patient complications than lower volume programs, those with less than 75 cases over three years.
Other Findings:
- Bariatric surgery patients treated at top-rated hospitals had, on average, a 67% lower chance of experiencing serious complications compared to patients who received treatment at poorly rated hospitals.
- Patients having surgery at 5-star hospitals spent, on average, more than half a day less in the hospital (2.15 days) compared to patients having surgery in 1-star hospitals (2.72 days).
- Of the 19 states studied, over 61% of all procedures were performed in five states: New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, California and Florida.
- Patients in Vermont, on average, spent the most time in the hospital (3.26 days), while patients in Nevada, on average, spent the least amount of time in the hospital (1.56 days).
- The number of inpatient procedures during the study years 2005 through 2007 showed no significant increase, but an increasing percentage of surgeries are being performed outpatient.
- More Center of Excellence (COE) bariatric surgery programs (a special designation from the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery) earned a 5-star rating (29.5%) than non-COE programs (12.3%).
- Laparoscopic bariatric surgery procedures accounted for 79% of all procedures, up from 54% in last year's study.
- While inhospital mortality is generally an uncommon complication, the death rate at 5-star rated hospitals was about one-third the rate at one-star rated hospitals.
- California was, on average, the most expensive state for bariatric surgery, with an average charge per procedure of $52,224, the study found. Maryland was the least expensive with an average charge per procedure of $14,577.
For this study, HealthGrades analyzed 153,355 bariatric procedures performed in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. The states included in the study are: Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.