Key Findings
How did hospital charges differ among Utah hospitals?
Average hospital charges for the knee or hip procedures and conditions in this report differed widely in 2004.
For patients at the minor/moderate illness level, average hospital charges ranged from:
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$16,730 to $37,865 among 27 Utah hospitals that reported charges for hip joint replacement patients. (APR-DRG 301)
- $1,552 to $9,559 among 35 Utah hospitals that reported charges for fracture of femur (APR-DRG 340). Most hip fractures are actually breaks in the femur’s neck, near where it fits into a cup in the pelvis.
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$17,252 to $44,365 among 28 Utah hospitals that reported charges for knee joint replacement. (APR-DRG 302)
As expected, average hospital charges for patients treated at the major/extreme illness level and for bilateral joint replacements (both joints replaced during the same hospital stay) were higher. Read More in Technical Document
- 351 patients had bilateral knee replacement or about 7% of all knee replacement patients.
- 16 patients had bilateral hip replacement or about 0.5% of all hip replacement patients.
Note that many factors will affect hospital charges. Read more in “About the Report ”.
How did Utah quality of care compare with the nation in 2002 through 2004?
For in-hospital deaths, Utah hospitals overall did about as well as other U.S. hospitals with similar patients for hip replacement and hip fracture. In other words, the percentage of hip replacement patients and hip fracture patients who died in all Utah hospitals combined did not differ significantly from that of similar patients in other U.S. hospitals.
From 2002 through 2004, in Utah hospitals
- 12 out of 4,786 hip replacement patients died.
- 170 out of 5,106 hip fracture patients died.
When each Utah hospital is compared to similar U.S. hospitals
- All Utah hospitals had about the same percentage of in-hospital deaths as expected for hip replacement for their patient case mix (patient age, gender and how ill the patients were).
- Most hospitals did as well as expected for hip fracture for their patient case mix.
Note that many factors can affect in-hospital deaths at a particular hospital. Read more in “About the Report ”.