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There was a recurrence rate study that compared the recurrence rate of patients whose primary repair occurred at the Shouldice Hospital with those of patients whose primary repair occurred at various other Ontario hospitals. They did this by scanning the Ontario Hospital Insurance Program (OHIP) records, which captures recurrence codes in hospital billing requests (which captures Ontario recurrences regardless of whether the recurrence is repaired at the site of the primary repair. They found that the recurrence rate for patients receiving their primary repair at the Shouldice was dramatically less than that of patients served at other Ontario hospitals.
Not perfect because it missed the subset of patients who had their primary repair in Ontario but then had a recurrence repaired outside of Ontario. Nor would it capture patients not covered by OHIP (e.g. foreign patients). Also it only studied patients whose primary surgery occurred prior to 2008, and things have changed since then…
Malik et al., 2016, Recurrence of inguinal hernias repaired in a large hernia surgical specialty hospital and general hospitals in Ontario, Canada. Can J Surg, 59, 19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cjs.003915