Unsolicited Patient Complaints in Orthopaedic Surgery: An Analysis Utilizing a Large National Database

CATEGORY: Other INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: Unsolicited patient complaints (UPCs) about surgeons have been shown to correlate with surgical complications and malpractice claims in several specialties. Analysis of UPCs in orthopaedics is limited and using large national databases of UPCs may prove informative to orthopaedic providers and administrators. Our purpose was to 1) Evaluate the differences in the number and distribution of UPCs between orthopaedic surgeons as compared to other surgeons, and non- surgeons. 2) Describe the distribution of UPCs among orthopaedic sub-specialties. 3) Assess for clinical characteristics that may be associated with UPCs. METHODS: Patient complaint reports recorded at 36 medical centers between January 1st, 2015 through December 31st, 2018 were coded using a previously validated coding algorithm, PARS(®) (Patient Advocacy Reporting System(®)). We (1) evaluated the distribution of UPCs across orthopaedic surgeons, (2) compared orthopaedic surgeons’ UPC distribution with those of other surgeons and non-surgeons, and (3) analyzed differences in complaint types across orthopaedic sub-specialties. RESULTS: A total of 33,174 physicians had four consecutive years of data across the 36 nation-wide participating medical centers and met other inclusion criteria, including 1,148 orthopaedic surgeons, 6,747 other surgeons, and 25,279 non-surgeons. Orthopaedic surgeons experienced more UPCs per physician than non-orthopaedic surgeons and non-surgeons (5 vs. 2 vs. 1 respectively, p<0.05); the top 20% of orthopaedic surgeons with UPCs accounted for half of all complaints about orthopaedic surgeons received by the organizations in the study. The sub-specialties that had significantly more UPCs compared to general orthopaedic surgeons were Foot and Ankle (OR 2.6 [1.4-4.6], p=.002), followed by Adult Reconstruction (OR 2.2 [1.3-3.8], p=.002), Spine [OR 2.2 (1.3-3.8), p=.005), and Trauma (OR 2.2 [1.2-4.0], p =.01). Surgeons in the midwest were less likely to get complaints that surgeons in the northeast and sex was not a predicting factor. CONCLUSION: Orthopaedic surgeons receive comparatively more UPCs than other surgical and non-surgical specialties. Among orthopaedic surgeons, the subspecialties of Foot and Ankle, Adult, Reconstruction, Spine, and Trauma received the most UPCs. As increased UPCs have been linked to higher risk of malpractice claims, individual orthopaedic surgeons with high numbers of UPCs may benefit from being made aware of their elevated risk status in ways that invite reflection on underlying causes.