Analysis of the Cost-Effectiveness of Same-day Discharge Surgery for Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) causes a great medical burden globally, and the same-day discharge (SDD) method has previously been considered to be cost saving. However, a standard cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is needed to evaluated the benefits of SDD when performing THA from the perspective of both economic and clinical outcomes. So the objective is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of SDD for hip replacement. This was a single center, pragmatic RCT with a 6-month follow up. Eighty-four participants who met the inclusion criteria were randomized to either the SDD group or the inpatient group (42 per group). Outcomes were assessed by an independent orthopedist who was not in the surgical team, using the Oxford Hip Score (OHS), EuroQol 5D (EQ-5D) and 36-Item Short-From Health Survey (SF-36) scores at the baseline and the 6-month follow up. All interviews were conducted face to face. All the cost information was collected both from payment receipts and insurance reimbursement records.