High-risk surgery among Medicare beneficiaries living in health professional shortage areas

Abstract

Purpose: Americans who reside in health professional shortage areas currently have less than half of the needed physician workforce. While the shortage designation has been associated with poor outcomes for chronic medical conditions, far less is known about outcomes after high-risk surgical procedures. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of Medicare beneficiaries living in health professional shortage areas and nonshortage areas who underwent abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, coronary artery bypass graft, esophagectomy, liver resection, pancreatectomy, or rectal resection between 2014 and 2018. Risk-adjusted multivariable logistic regression was used to determine whether rates of postoperative complications and 30-day mortality differed between patient cohorts. Beneficiary and hospital ZIP codes were used to quantify travel time to obtain care. Findings: Compared with patients living in nonshortage areas, patients living in health professional shortage areas traveled longer (median 60.0 vs 28.0 minutes, P