A new study published in Clinical Spine Surgery examines whether anterior cervical discectomy and fusion patients are treated differently at physician-owned hospitals than other hospitals.
The study covered 115 patients who underwent ACDF at a physician-owned specialty hospital and 149 patients who had the procedure at an independent community hospital from October 2009 to December 2014. The patients had either one- or two-level procedures and had similar comorbidity and insurance status.
Here are five key findings:
1. Patients in the physician-owned hospital group were slightly younger than those who underwent surgery at the independent hospital — 49.7 years old compared to 50 years old.
2. The number of months from symptom onset to surgery was 6.02 months for patients in both groups. The time from initial surgical consultation to surgery was 0.99 months for the physician-owned hospital and 1.02 for the community hospital.
3. More than half of the patients in both groups — 72.2 percent in the physician-owned hospital group and 67.1 percent in the community hospital group — underwent formal physical therapy prior to surgery. Around half — 55.6 percent of the physician-owned hospital group and 50.3 percent of the community hospital group — had cervical steroid injections before surgery.
4. The patients at the physician-owned hospital were more likely to take oral anti-inflammatories; 93 percent took the oral inflammatories, compared to 83.9 percent of the community hospital group.
5. Study authors concluded surgeons don't select preferentially younger patients or patients with better insurance for treatment at physician-owned hospitals.