Machine learning and primary total knee arthroplasty: patient forecasting for a patient-specific payment model

<p><strong>Background:</strong> Value-based and patient-specific care represent 2 critical areas of focus that have yet to be fully reconciled by today’s bundled care model. Using a predictive naïve Bayesian model, the objectives of this study were (1) to develop a machine-learning...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Navarro, S, Wang, E, Haeberle, H, Mont, M, Krebs, V, Patterson, B, Ramkumar, P
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2018
Description
Summary:<p><strong>Background:</strong> Value-based and patient-specific care represent 2 critical areas of focus that have yet to be fully reconciled by today’s bundled care model. Using a predictive naïve Bayesian model, the objectives of this study were (1) to develop a machine-learning algorithm using preoperative big data to predict length of stay (LOS) and inpatient costs after primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and (2) to propose a tiered patient-specific payment model that reflects patient complexity for reimbursement.</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> Using 141,446 patients undergoing primary TKA from an administrative database from 2009 to 2016, a Bayesian model was created and trained to forecast LOS and cost. Algorithm performance was determined using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and the percent accuracy. A proposed risk-based patient-specific payment model was derived based on outputs.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> The machine-learning algorithm required age, race, gender, and comorbidity scores (“risk of illness” and “risk of morbidity”) to demonstrate a high degree of validity with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.7822 and 0.7382 for LOS and cost. As patient complexity increased, cost add-ons increased in tiers of 3%, 10%, and 15% for moderate, major, and extreme mortality risks, respectively.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Our machine-learning algorithm derived from an administrative database demonstrated excellent validity in predicting LOS and costs before primary TKA and has broad value-based applications, including a risk-based patient-specific payment model.</p>