Seasonality of service provision in hip and knee surgery: a possible contributor to waiting times? A time series analysis

BMC Health Services Research
Ross E G UpshurM M Mamdani

Abstract

The question of how best to reduce waiting times for health care, particularly surgical procedures such as hip and knee replacements is among the most pressing concern of the Canadian health care system. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that significant seasonal variation exists in the performance of hip and knee replacement surgery in the province of Ontario. We performed a retrospective, cross-sectional time series analysis examining all hip and knee replacement surgeries in people over the age of 65 in the province of Ontario, Canada between 1992 and 2002. The main outcome measure was monthly hospitalization rates per 100,000 population for all hip and knee replacements. There was a marked increase in the rate of hip and knee replacement surgery over the 10-year period as well as an increasing seasonal variation in surgeries. Highly significant (Fisher Kappa = 16.05, p < 0.01; Bartlett-Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test = 0.31, p < 0.01) and strong (R2Autoreg = 0.85) seasonality was identified in the data. Holidays and utilization caps appear to exert a significant influence on the rate of service provision. It is expected that waiting times for hip and knee replacement could be reduced by reducing seasonal fluctu...Continue Reading

References

Nov 1, 1990·Archives of Internal Medicine·B Q ThiessenU Bergman
Dec 17, 2003·Population Health Metrics·Rahim MoineddinMuhammad Mamdani

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Citations

Nov 5, 2008·Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology. Journal Canadien D'ophtalmologie·Lorne Bellan
Jun 8, 2012·Health Services Management Research : an Official Journal of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration·Paul W Armstrong
May 28, 2019·Journal of Health Organization and Management·Maude LabergeAngel Ruiz
Apr 7, 2018·Journal of Health Organization and Management·Francisco GonzalezFelix Rubial

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
coronary artery bypass

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