Quality Improvement in Bariatric Surgery: The Impact of Reducing Postoperative Complications on Medicare Payments

Objective: To determine the temporal relationship between reducing surgical complications and costs, using the study population of bariatric surgery. Background: Understanding the relationship between quality and costs has significant implications for the business case of investing in performance improvement. An unprecedented focus on safety in bariatric surgery has led to substantial reductions in complication rates over time, making it an ideal patient population in which to examine this relationship. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of Medicare beneficiaries undergoing bariatric surgery in the years 2005 to 2006 and 2013 to 2014 (total N = 37,329 patients, 562 hospitals). Hospitals were ranked into quintiles based on their degree of improvement in risk and reliability-adjusted 30-day rates of serious complications across the time periods. Multivariable regression was used to calculate corresponding changes in average price-standardized payments for each quintile of hospitals. Results: We found a strong association between reductions in complications and decreased Medicare payments. The top 20% of hospitals had a decrease in average serious complication rate of 7.3% (10.0%–2.7%; P Conclusions: When analyzing Medicare patients undergoing bariatric surgery, hospitals with the largest reductions in serious postoperative complications had the greatest decrease in per-patient payments. This study demonstrates the potential savings associated with quality improvement in high-risk surgical procedures.