The Influence of Hospital Characteristics on Patient Survival in Surgically Managed Metastatic Disease of Bone: An Analysis of the SEER-Medicare Linked Database.

Objectives: We investigated whether patients receiving surgical treatment for metastatic disease of bone (MDB) at hospitals with higher volume, medical school affiliation, or Commission on Cancer accreditation have superior outcomes.

Materials And Methods: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database, we identified 9413 patients surgically treated for extremity MDB between 1992 and 2014 at the age of 66 years or older. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate the hazards ratios (HR) for 90-day and 1-year mortality and 30-day readmission according to the characteristics of the hospital where bone surgery was performed.

Results: We observed no notable differences in 90-day mortality, 1-year mortality, or 30-day readmission associated with hospital volume. Major medical school affiliation was associated with lower 90-day (HR: 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.80-0.96) and 1-year (HR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.87-0.99) mortality after adjustments for demographic and tumor characteristics. Surgical treatment at Commission on Cancer accredited hospitals was associated with significantly higher risk of death at 90 days and 1 year after the surgery. This effect appeared to be driven by lung cancer patients (1-year HR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.07-1.27).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest surgical management of MDB at lower-volume hospitals does not compromise survival or readmissions. There may be benefit to referral or consultation with an academic medical center in some tumor types or clinical scenarios.