Who Will be the Costliest Patients? Using Recent Claims to Predict Expensive Surgical Episodes

Surgery accounts for almost half of inpatient spending, much of which is concentrated in a subset of high-cost patients. To study the effects of surgeon and hospital characteristics on surgical expenditures, a way to adjust for patient characteristics is essential.Using 100% Medicare claims data, we identified patients aged 66-99 undergoing elective inpatient surgery (coronary artery bypass grafting, colectomy, and total hip/knee replacement) in...