The hospital costs associated with postoperative complications following small bowel resection surgery

Interventions: There is no participant involvement. Only the de-identified hospital medical record of patients who have undergone surgery will be reviewed.
We will review the following ICD Codes:
30515-03 Ileocolic resection with anastomosis
30515-04 Laparoscopic ileocolic resection with anastomosis
30515-05 Ileocolic resection with formation of stoma
30515-06 Laparoscopic ileocolic resection with formation of stoma
30565-00 Resection of small intestine with formation of stoma
30566-00 Resection of small intestine with anastomosis
The procedures were performed at the Austin Hospital, a tertiary hospital with small bowel expertise, over the period of January 2013 and June 2018. Patients were followed-up for 30 days following discharge from the index admission. If no subsequent re-admissions occurred within this period, follow-up ceased. If a patient was readmitted within the 30-day period, then the readmission was included, and following discharge from the readmission or end of the original 30-day period, whichever was later, follow-up ceased.
Primary outcome(s): Costs of complications as a composite outcome defined as cost of patients with complications less the cost of patients without complications (i.e. by comparison of patients with and without complications).
All costs related to the index admission for small bowel resections and any consequent readmissions are included. Costs related to preoperative course are not considered. Allocation of costs will be done based on service volume, and costs calculated using an activity-based costing methodology. Only in-hospital costs are considered, with both direct and indirect costs assessed to produce a total cost for each patient. Costs for each patient will be obtained from the Austin Health Department of Finance, which maintain an itemised prospective database of all hospital expenses related to each patient.[Costs will be calculated from day of surgery to hospital discharge. Readmissions are considered within 30 days of discharge from the index admission.]
Study Design: Purpose: Natural history;Duration: Longitudinal;Selection: Defined population;Timing: Retrospective