Johnson SP, et al. - Using insurance claims from the Truven MarketScan Databases, researchers conducted this cross-sectional study to assess the effect of posthospital syndrome (PHS), a physiologically deconditioned state experienced by patients after hospitalizations, on postoperative healthcare utilization and discharge disposition following total hip (THA) and knee (TKA) arthroplasty. To identify the risk of postoperative discharge to an extended care facility (ECF), hospital readmissions, and emergency department visits within 90 days, they used multivariable logistic regression analyses. The sample consisted of 115,465 THA and 190,398 TKA patients who had elective surgery for osteoarthritis. In 1.9% and 1.6% of cohorts, respectively, PHS was identified and was more prevalent in patients with higher comorbidities. The PHS cohort had higher crude discharge rates for ECF and readmissions. The authors discovered that those with acute hospitalizations within 90-days prior to elective total joint arthroplasty were almost twice as likely to be discharged to an extended-care facility in this study of commercially insured patients and twice as likely to be readmitted in the global postoperative period.