Physician practice variation under orthopedic bundled payment.

Objectives: To describe the extent of and longitudinal changes in physician practice variation with respect to implant costs, institutional postacute care (PAC) provider utilization, and total episode payments, as well as to evaluate the association between physician volume and quality and these outcomes.

Study Design: Observational study.

Methods: We combined claims and internal hospital cost data for 34 physicians responsible for 3614 joint replacement episodes under bundled payment at Baptist Health System (BHS).