Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Hospitals are rapidly consolidating to create large healthcare systems. Whether outcomes following colorectal cancer resection at flagship hospitals differ from those at non‐flagship hospitals is unknown. Methods A 6‐year retrospective analysis of an all‐payor New York State (NYS) hospital database was conducted. All adult patients with a colorectal resection for primary resectable colorectal cancer were included. Within each system, the hospital with the most colorectal resections was designated the “flagship” hospital. Thirty‐day outcomes at flagship facilities were compared to affiliated, non‐flagship hospitals following colorectal resection while matching for patient‐level differences. Results In total, 28 400 patients were included across 31 healthcare systems in NYS. There were no differences in mortality (0.9% vs. 1.1%), 30‐day readmissions (10.5% vs. 11.9%), or postoperative outcomes between matched patients treated at flagship versus non‐flagship facilities ( p > 0.05). Conclusions There are no differences in perioperative outcomes between flagship and non‐flagship hospitals in a given system in NYS. Patients with resectable non‐metastatic colorectal cancer may not need to undergo oncologic resection at flagship hospitals to receive high‐quality perioperative care.