A dual-perspective analysis of the hospital and payer-borne burdens of selected in-hospital surgical complications in low anterior resection for colorectal cancer

ABSTRACTObjectives: The economic burden of surgical complications is borne in distinctly different ways by hospitals and payers. This study quantified the incidence and economic burden – from both the hospital and payer perspective – of selected major colorectal surgery complications in patients undergoing low anterior resection (LAR) for colorectal cancer.Methods: Retrospective, observational study of patient undergoing LAR for colorectal cancer between 1/1/2010 and 7/1/2015. Analyses were replicated in two large healthcare administrative databases: Premier (hospital discharge and billing data; hospital perspective) and Optum (insurance claims data; payer perspective). Multivariable analyses evaluated the association between infection (surgical site or bloodstream), anastomotic leak, and bleeding complications and the following outcomes: hospital length of stay (LOS), non-home discharge, 90-day all-cause readmission, index admission costs to the hospital, index admission payer expenditures, and index adm...