Healthcare analytics at a perioperative surgical home implemented community hospital

Abstract

The Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) is a novel patient-centric surgical system developed by American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) to improve surgical outcomes and patient satisfaction. Compared to a traditional surgical system, the PSH is a coordinated interdisciplinary team encompassing all surgical care provided to patients from the perioperative phase to recovery phase. However, limited research has been performed in augmenting the PSH surgical care using healthcare analytics. In addition, the spread of the PSH is limited in rural hospitals. Compared to urban hospitals, rural hospitals have higher surgical care inequality due to limited availability of clinicians, resources, resulting in poor access to surgical care. With an increase in the rate of Total Joint Replacement (TJR) procedures in the United States (US), rural hospitals are often under-resourced with coordinating perioperative services resulting in inadequate communication, poor care continuity, and preventable complications. This study focused on developing a novel analytical framework to predict, evaluate, and improve TJR outcomes at a PSH implemented rural community hospital. The study was segmented into three parts where the first part explored the effectiveness of the digital engagement platform to longitudinally engage with TJR patients located in rural areas. The second part evaluated the impact of PSH system in the rural setting by analyzing and comparing the TJR surgical outcomes. Finally, the third part explained the importance of machine learning in the rural PSH system to identify critical patient factors, enhance decision-making, and plan for preventive interventions for better surgical outcomes. Results from this research demonstrated the importance of healthcare analytics in PSH system and how it can help to enhance TJR surgical outcomes and experience for both clinicians and patients.