Eastern Connecticut State University accounting major Tyler Wright has been selected to present at the annual “Posters on the Hill” conference. His research, titled “The Effect of Length of Stay and Readmission on Total Charges of Total Knee Arthroplasty and Total Hip Arthroplasty Patients,” will be presented at the virtual event, which will take place April 26-27.  

Posters on the Hill is organized by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). “This is our signature advocacy event, giving students — and their mentors — the opportunity to showcase their research as well as advocate for undergraduate research at the federal level by engaging in discussions with their members of Congress,” said Mike Jackson and Carol Strong, co-chairs of the Posters on the Hill Review Committee.  

Of the hundreds of applicants, only 60 undergraduate students were selected to present their work. Wright, who is a member of Eastern’s honors program, worked with Fatma Pakdil, professor of management and marketing, to complete his honors thesis.  

“We looked at the Nationwide Readmission Database (NRD) from Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP),” said Wright. “I focused on patients that received Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) or Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA). My research was to see how different variables such as readmission rate, length of stay (LOS), age, gender, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), hospital urban-rural designation, hospital ownership, insurance type and payee type all impacted a patient’s total charges.”  

Wright said that applying to “Posters on The Hill” seemed like the right path for him to take in presenting his research. “While I am not sure how this conference will impact my career going forward, I hope it could potentially lead to some job opportunities. I am most looking forward to finally presenting all the hard work I did to complete my thesis.”