Considered the top 5% of healthcare utilizers, “super-utilizers” are estimated to consume as much as 40–55% of all healthcare costs. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with switching between low- and super-utilization.

Low and super-utilizers who underwent abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), colectomy, total hip arthroplasty (THA), total knee arthroplasty (TKA), or lung resection between 2013 and 2015 were identified from 100% Medicare Inpatient Standard Analytic Files.

Among 1,049,160 patients, 788,488 (75.1%) and 21,700 (2.1%) patients were low- or super-utilizers prior to surgery, respectively. Among patients who were super-utilizers before surgery, 23% remained super-utilizers post-operatively, yet 26.8% patients became low-utilizers after surgery. Factors associated with moving from low-to super-utilization in the pre-versus post-operative setting included AAA repair, higher Charlson, and pulmonary failure. In contrast, pre-operative super-utilizers who became low-utilizers in the post-operative setting were less likely to be African American or have undergone CABG.

While 3% of pre-operative low-utilizers became super-utilizers likely due to complications, nearly one quarter of all pre-operative super-utilizers became low-utilizers following surgery suggesting success of the surgery to resolve underlying conditions associated with preoperative super-utilization.