Outpatient Total Shoulder Arthroplasty Does Not Increase the 90-Day Risk of Complications Compared With Inpatient Surgery in Prescreened Patients

Outpatient total joint arthroplasty is becoming a more attractive option for hospitals, surgeons, and patients. In this study, the authors evaluated the safety of outpatient shoulder arthroplasty by comparing an outpatient cohort with an inpatient cohort. Ninety-day outcomes of consecutively performed elective shoulder arthroplasty cases from 2012 to 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were preoperatively assigned to outpatient or inpatient care. Primary outcomes were emergency department visits, readmissions, mortality, and surgical morbidity within 90 days of surgery. Two-tailed t tests were used to evaluate differences. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to determine if the odds of emergency department visit, readmission, or complications were significantly different between the cohorts. There were 118 outpatient and 64 inpatient shoulder arthroplasty procedures. Mean age and American Society of Anesthesiologists score were lower in the outpatient group compared with the inpatient group-68.1 vs 72.4 years (P=.01) and 2.3 vs 2.6 (P <.01), respectively. In the multivariate logistic regression model including all arthroplasty cases, the odds of outpatient to inpatient readmission was significantly different (odds ratio, 0.181; P=.027). However, when only total shoulder arthroplasty cases were included, no difference was detected. No statistically significant difference was noted for number of emergency department visits, mortality, or surgical morbidity within 90 days of surgery in any of the models. There was 1 death in the ambulatory group at 28 days after surgery. On the basis of these findings, the authors believe that, for carefully selected patients, an outpatient shoulder arthroplasty protocol is safe when compared with inpatient protocols. [Orthopedics. 2018; 41(4):e563-e568.]