Table 3.

Studies with Cost/Charges as an Outcome

Reference	Data source and location	Number of patients	Study population	Definition of care fragmentation	Ottawa bias assessment	Outcome assessed	Findings
Glebova 201426	Maryland	115	Patients undergoing thoracic and thoracoabdominal aneurysm repair, 2002–2013	Readmission to a different hospital than the one where the surgery was performed	Good	Total charges for readmission	Fragmented total: 20,000 ± 4400 Non-fragmented total: 42,000 ± 8800
Luu 201629	USA (SEER-Medicare)	3,399	Patients who had colon cancer surgery who were readmitted within 30 days of discharge, 2000–2009	Readmission to a different hospital than the one where the surgery was performed	Good	Cost of care for up to 1 year after index admission	Difference $8405 (95% CI − $4202 to $23,114)
Stitzenberg 201732	USA (SEER-Medicare)	7903	Patients with cancer* who underwent extirpative surgery, 2001–2007	Readmission to a different hospital than the one where the surgery was performed	Good	Total costs incurred in the 90 days post-index discharge	Fragmented v. not Medical diagnoses: $37,806 ± $55,730 vs. $36,052 ± $37,541 Surgical diagnoses: $50,465 ± $75,710 vs. $56,559 ± $62,438
Parreco 201717	USA (NRD)	110,854	Patients admitted with a principal diagnosis of trauma in 2013–2014	Readmission to a different hospital than the one they were previously discharged from	Good	Total cost of readmission	Fragmented (median) $8568 (IQR $4935–$16,078) Non-fragmented (median) $8298 (IQR $4899–$14,911)

*Bladder, esophagus, lung, pancreas cancer