Opportunities for control of hospital costs for total joint arthroplasty after initial cost containment

Hospital Economics of Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty at a Teaching Hospital

“…All the information is from our hospital, and all patients were cared for by our group practice [6,7,12,13]. The trends are concerning and perhaps alarming.…”

Do “Premium” Joint Implants Add Value?: Analysis of High Cost Joint Implants in a Community Registry

“…With the number of such procedures expected to increase [16,19], TJA continues to attract the attention of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services. Since implant expense is a major portion of the total cost of the procedure [16-19, 25, 34] and increasing use of premium implants is one of the drivers [9], we sought to determine whether such implants could be demonstrated to have superior value in early-to midterm followup.…”

“…Implant expense has traditionally been one of the costlier parts of the hospital bill for total joint arthroplasties (TJAs) [16,19,25]. Increasingly, efforts have been made to minimize costs associated with TJA surgery and hospitalization in an era of dwindling Medicare reimbursements and push for national healthcare reform [5,17].…”

Cumulative Revision Rate is Higher in Metal-on-Metal THA than Metal-on-Polyethylene THA: Analysis of Survival in a Community Registry

“…Primary and revision total joint arthroplasties account for a higher percentage of Medicare spending than any other inpatient procedures and the numbers of these procedures are expected to increase [4,15,18]. Implant expense is a major portion of the total cost of the procedure [14, 16-18, 20, 27] [29], we sought to determine whether MOM THA could be shown to have better survival than MOXP THA in early-to midterm followup in our community registry.…”

“…However, implementation of this new technology comes at an additional cost to our patients and the healthcare system. Implant expense traditionally has been one of the costlier parts of the hospital bill for a THA [15,18,20] and efforts continue to cut costs in an era of dwindling Medicare reimbursements and the push for national healthcare reform [6,16]. Surgeons may reasonably be expected to weigh implant cost considerations against their desire to use new technology that may afford better function, fewer complications, and/or improved longevity of THA for their patients.…”