Objective: To determine demographics and cost for outpatients undergoing parathyroid surgery at hospitals belonging to the University Health System Consortium (UHC).
Study design: UHC data were accessed in 2011 and reflected data collected from 2005 through 2010 (24 quarters). Searching strategy was based on diagnoses of parathyroid disease and patients undergoing parathyroidectomy across all UHC member facilities. Complications evaluated in this analysis included: hypocalcemia, hypoparathyroidism, aspiration pneumonia, hematoma, wound infection, stroke, myocardial infarction, deep venous thrombosis/pulmonary embolism (PE), and death.
Setting: The University Health System Consortium, Oak Brook, Illinois, was formed in 1984 and consists of 112 academic medical centers and 250 of their affiliated hospitals. This represents 90% of the nonprofit academic medical centers in the United States (www.uhc.edu).
Subjects and methods: Patients enrolled in the UHC database were studied retrospectively. Data were compiled from discharge summaries into a secure, interactive, Web-based database. The outpatient data collection set has been a recent addition to the originally established UHC inpatient discharge database.
Results: There were 21,057 patients who had outpatient parathyroid surgery. The average age was 59.0 (0.8-96.2) yrs. Seventy-six percent of patients were female. Outpatient parathyroidectomy had lower charges than inpatient surgery ($12,738 and $14,657, respectively; P = 0.004, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). Complications were low but were likely underreported.
Conclusion: Parathyroid surgery is increasingly being done in the outpatient setting in the United States. By virtue of omitting inpatient hospitalization, the outpatient approach becomes a more economical way to manage parathyroid disease. This is the largest known series reporting experience with outpatient parathyroid surgery.