Medicare Proposes Outpatient Hip Replacements O

Medicare Proposes Outpatient Hip Replacements

One day Hip/Knee Replacement that B Braun helped pioneer in the UK, using RecoveryRx, is coming to US Medicare patients.

Axios
Bob Herman Aug 1, 2019

Medicare is proposing to start paying for total hip replacement surgeries in outpatient surgery centers next year, meaning patients can go home the same day they get the procedure instead of having to stay overnight in a hospital.

Why it matters: Medicare spent roughly $6.5 billion on hospitalizations tied to hip and knee replacements in 2016. There’s a push to move more of those costly procedures into surgery centers because patients could recover at home and it’s cheaper to do as an outpatient.

Between the lines: Many patients with commercial insurance get new hips and knees in surgery centers instead of hospitals. Medicare started allowing knee replacements to occur in outpatient centers in 2018, and officials have contemplated doing the same with hip replacements since then — so this was just a matter of time.

https://www.axios.com/medicare-proposes-outpa...d7dbf.html