"Never events" rare after bladder cancer surgery

(HealthDay)—"Never events", ten hospital-acquired conditions deemed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as being reasonably preventable, are rare in patients with bladder cancer who have undergone radical cystectomy, according to a study published in the March issue of Urology.

Gregory A. Joice, from Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues determined the rate of never events, where hospitals would no longer be reimbursed for the additional care if a patient developed any of these conditions, in 61,142 patients with bladder cancer who had undergone radical cystectomy from 2002 to 2009.

The researchers found that 2.42 percent of patients developed any never event condition, with vascular-catheter infections being the most common at 1.25 percent. The risk of a never event was higher for blacks and for those with comorbidities. A never event increased the average hospital stay by 15 days, increased total costs by $37,000, and increased in-hospital mortality to 8.0 percent from 2.2 percent.

"Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services never events after radical cystectomy are rare events," Joice and colleagues conclude. "Vascular catheter infection and pressure ulcers were most common and were the only events with rates > 0.1 percent."