Advancing health equity in Complex Abdominal & Pelvic Surgery: A 5-year report.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of a Complex Abdominal and Pelvic Surgery (CAPS) program at a tertiary referral center in Arizona in providing complex surgical care for an underserved population

METHODS

Thirty-day post-operative outcomes for mortality, complications, length of stay and readmission were compared among patients with low/low-medium and medium-high/high social vulnerability index (SVI) for 120 patients who underwent surgery with the CAPS program from 2019 to 2024.

RESULTS

There were no differences in outcomes between SVI groups. The 30-day mortality rate was 2% (2 patients). Seventy-four patients (62%) had at least one complication, of which most were Grade I or II complications. The median post-surgery length of stay was 10 days and the readmission rate was 24%.

CONCLUSION

The provision of complex surgical care in a population with high social vulnerability is safe and advances equity but is resource intensive. Further research is warranted to investigate the development of similar programs.