Arthroplasty implant costs - the best kept secret.

By: [email protected] (Frederick A. Matsen III, M.D.)

Posted on: December 11, 2020

Arthroplasty implant costs - the best kept secret.

Identifying surgeon and institutional drivers of cost in total shoulder arthroplasty: a multicenter study

These authors sought to describe variation in the cost of shoulder arthroplasty performed by different surgeons at multiple hospitals and to determine the driving factors of such variation.

Across 4 high-volume institutions and 12 surgeons, surgeon volume and hospital volume did not correlate with episode-of-care cost.

Average cost per case of each institution varied by factors of 1.6  and 1.7  for anatomic total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RSA), respectively. 

Implants (56% and 62%, respectively) represented the highest percentage of cost for TSA and RSA.

The costs of implants vary greatly between facilities due to independently negotiated fees. The lack of correlation between cost and procedure volume is possibly a reflection of industry norms and negotiating practices. Hospitals are contractually obligated to refrain from sharing implant costs, and thus there is no transparency with which to inform negotiations. 

The importance of these secret negotiations is shown by data on reverse total shoulder prices from OrthopedicNetworkNews (link)

Note that the average selling price is between 1/3 to 1/2 of the "sticker" price.

To support our research to improve outcomes for patients with shoulder problems, click here.

To subscribe to this blog, enter your email in the box to your right that looks like the below

===
How you can support research in shoulder surgery Click on this link.

We have a new set of shoulder youtubes about the shoulder, check them out at this link.

Be sure to visit "Ream and Run - the state of the art" regarding this radically conservative approach to shoulder arthritis at this link and this link

Use the "Search" box to the right to find other topics of interest to you.

You may be interested in some of our most visited web pages  arthritis, total shoulder, ream and run, reverse total shoulder, CTA arthroplasty, and rotator cuff surgery as well as the 'ream and run essentials'