Impact of postsurgical complications on hospital costs and margins

This study included U.S. Medicare patients who underwent major cardiac, vascular, gastro-intestinal and orthopedic surgical procedures in 2011. Using the CMS Inpatient Standard Analytical Files with 100% of claims for Medicare fee-forservice beneficiaries, patients were identified based on principal ICD-9-CM procedure code on the claim. Overall, 63 procedures codes in four categories (cardiac, gastro-intestinal, orthopedic, and vascular) were included in the study. (The complete list of procedures is available from the authors upon request).