Ownership Matters: The Association Between Hospital Ownership and Older Adult Patient Outcomes in Emergency…

Cohort studyThe Journal of surgical research· Jul 2026

Ownership Matters: The Association Between Hospital Ownership and Older Adult Patient Outcomes in Emergency General Surgery.

Yasmin Arda, Jack H A Miller, Riley B Brackin … John O Hwabejire

Trauma & Acute Care SurgeryCohort studyClinical practiceQ2IF 1.6

For-profit hospitals had higher odds of postoperative complications than government hospitals.

Ownership Matters: The Association Between Hospital Ownership and Older Adult Patient Outcomes in Emergency General Surgery.

Yasmin Arda … John O Hwabejire

The Journal of surgical research · Jul 2026 · Q2 in Surgery

Background

Hospital ownership has been associated with variations in care quality and patient outcomes.

Purpose

This study aimed to examine the association between hospital ownership and outcomes among older adults undergoing emergency general surgery (emergency general surgery).

Methods

We utilized the 2019 Nationwide Readmissions Database to identify emergency general surgery patients of ≥65 y of age.

n = 95,236 patients

Results

for-profit hospital patients faced higher odds of complications than government hospital patients

AOR by subgroup · 95% CI

More results

On univariate analysis, patients treated at government hospitals had the highest mortality (4.0% versus 3.2% versus 2.7%, P < 0.001).

More results

On multivariable analyses, patients at both PNFP and PFP hospitals had lower mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.73-0.95; aOR 0.71, 95% CI 0.60-0.84, respectively) and hospital length of stay (aOR 0.91, 95% CI 0.86-0.96; aOR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82-0.95, respectively) compared to government hospitals.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

While private hospitals demonstrated lower mortality and shorter length of stay compared to government hospitals, for-profit institutions were associated with higher rates of postoperative complications.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

These findings underscore the need to examine structural and systemic factors within hospital types that may influence quality of care and patient outcomes among older adults undergoing emergency general surgery procedures.

Ownership Matters: The Association Between Hospital Ownership and Older Adult Patient Outcomes in Emergency General Surgery.

Ownership Matters: The Association Between Hospital Ownership and Older Adult Patient Outcomes in Emergency General Surgery.

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