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Surgical specialty and preoperative medical consultation based on commercial health insurance claims

Overview of attention for article published in Perioperative Medicine, May 2018
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Title
Surgical specialty and preoperative medical consultation based on commercial health insurance claims
Published in
Perioperative Medicine, May 2018
DOI 10.1186/s13741-018-0089-4
Pubmed ID
Authors

Stephan R. Thilen, Alex L. Woersching, Anda M. Cornea, Elliott Lowy, Edward M. Weaver, Miriam M. Treggiari

Abstract

Surgical patients are sometimes referred for preoperative evaluations by consultants in other medical specialties, although consultations are unnecessary for many patients, particularly for healthy patients undergoing low-risk surgeries. Surgical specialty has been shown to predict usage of preoperative consultations. However, evidence is generally limited regarding factors associated with preoperative consultations. This study evaluates surgical specialty and other predictors of preoperative consultations. This retrospective cohort study analyzed surgery claims of 7400 privately insured patients in Washington, United States, from eight surgical specialties. We estimated log-Poisson generalized estimating equation models that regress whether a patient received a consultation on surgical specialty and covariates accounting for the data's hierarchical structure with patients nesting within surgeons, and surgeons nesting within provider organizations. Covariates include age, gender, Deyo comorbidity index, surgical risk, and geographic factors. Overall, 485 (6.6%) patients had a preoperative consultation. The incidence of preoperative consultation varied significantly by surgical specialty. Orthopedics, neurosurgery, and ophthalmology had 3.9 (95% CI 2.4, 6.5), 2.3 (95% CI 1.1, 4.5), and 2.3 (95% CI 1.1, 4.6) times greater adjusted likelihoods of preoperative consultation than general surgery, respectively. The adjusted likelihoods of consultation for gynecology, urology, otolaryngology, and vascular surgery were not statistically different from general surgery. The following covariates were associated with greater likelihood of preoperative consultation: greater age, higher surgical risk, having one or more comorbidities vs. none, and small rural towns vs. urban areas. More than 75% of all consultations were provided to patients with a Deyo comorbidity index of 0 or 1. Low surgical risk patients had 0.3 (95% CI 0.3, 0.5) times the likelihood of preoperative consultation of intermediate and high-risk patients overall. The likelihood of preoperative consultation varied fourfold (an absolute 9% points) across surgical specialties. Most consultations were provided to patients with low comorbidity and with low or intermediate surgical risk. To improve usage of preoperative consultations as an evidence-based practice, future research should determine how the health outcomes effects of preoperative consultations vary depending on comorbidity burden and surgical risk.

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The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 14 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 14 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 3 21%
Student > Master 2 14%
Student > Ph. D. Student 1 7%
Student > Doctoral Student 1 7%
Unspecified 1 7%
Other 0 0%
Unknown 6 43%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 4 29%
Nursing and Health Professions 2 14%
Social Sciences 1 7%
Psychology 1 7%
Unknown 6 43%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 May 2018.
All research outputs
#17,948,821
of 23,047,237 outputs
Outputs from Perioperative Medicine
#177
of 243 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#237,015
of 326,669 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Perioperative Medicine
#6
of 8 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,047,237 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 19th percentile – i.e., 19% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 243 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.5. This one is in the 20th percentile – i.e., 20% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 326,669 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 8 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 2 of them.