The consequences of early discharge after hip arthroplasty for patient outcomes and health care costs: comparison of three centres with differing durations of stay.

Objective: To compare outcomes from hip arthroplasty between a surgical unit with a rapid discharge policy and two comparison units to test the hypothesis that the centre with rapid discharge has outcomes that are not inferior to the comparison sites.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Subjects: Consecutive consenting patients receiving primary hip arthroplasty during 12 months beginning July 2006 in three UK National Health Service surgical units. One has shortened postoperative stay to median three days; one was a new treatment centre with median stay of five days; the third was a traditional unit with median stay of six days (N = 316, 119, 87, respectively).

Methods: Patients were assessed preoperatively and six weeks postoperatively. The primary indicator of function was the Oxford Hip Score. Additional secondary measures included further self-report indicators of function and quality of life and health service costs.

Results: Patient outcome in the unit with rapid discharge was not impaired by comparison with the other sites on any measure: Oxford Hip Score decreased from 49 to 27 in the short-stay unit, from 40 to 30 in the treatment centre and from 43 to 32 in the traditional unit. Cost of arthroplasty was least in the short-stay unit, although there was potential for cost savings in each.

Conclusion: Short postoperative stay after hip arthroplasty can be achieved without intensive patient preparation or post-discharge care and without compromising short-term patient outcome or increasing health care costs. Longer term follow-up is needed.