WHAT ARE THE COSTS OF QUEUING FOR HIP FRACTURE SURGERY IN CANADA

This paper investigates the effect of wait time for hip fracture surge ry in Canada on post-surgery length of stay in hospital and inpatient mortality. After controlling for observed and unobserved patient and h ospital characteristics, pre-surgery delay has little effect on either of the two outcome variables. Patients from higher income postal-code s experience only slightly shorter delays, and income has no substanti al effect on post-surgery outcomes. For hip fracture patients surgery delay may lead to greater pre-surgery inpatient costs and more patient discomfort, but we find no evidence of a detrimental impact on post-s urgery outcomes.