Background: Despite increasing demands on physicians and hospitals to increase value and reduce unnecessary costs, reimbursement for healthcare services has been under downward pressure for several years. This study aimed to analyze the trend in hospital charges and payments relative to corresponding surgeon charges and payments in a Medicare population for total hip (THA) and knee arthroplasty (TKA).
Methods: The 5% Medicare sample database was used to capture hospital and surgeon charges and payments related to 56,228 patients who underwent primary THA and 117,698 patients who underwent primary TKA between 2005 and 2014. Two values were calculated: (1) the charge multiplier (CM), the ratio of hospital to surgeon charges and (2) the payment multiplier (PM), the ratio of hospital to surgeon payments. Year-to-year variation and regional trends in patient demographics, Charlson Comorbidity Index, length of stay (LOS), CM, and PM were evaluated.
Results: Hospital charges were significantly higher than surgeon charges and increased substantially for both THA (CM increased from 8.7 to 11.5, P < .0001) and TKA (CM increased from 7.9 to 11.4, P < .0001). PM followed a similar trend, increasing for both THA and TKA (P < .0001). LOS decreased significantly for both THA and TKA (P < .0001), while Charlson Comorbidity Index remained stable. Both CM (r = 0.84 THA, 0.90 TKA) and PM (r = 0.75 THA, 0.84 TKA) were strongly negatively associated with LOS.
Conclusion: Hospital charges and payments relative to surgeon charges and payments have increased substantially for THA and TKA despite stable patient complexity and decreasing LOS.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arth.2019.10.015 | DOI Listing |
EClinicalMedicine
January 2025
Canadian Cancer Trials Group, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Background: Dual inhibition of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) has been shown to be an effective treatment strategy in many cancers. We sought to determine the objective response rate of combination durvalumab (D) plus tremelimumab (TM) in parallel cohorts of patients with carefully selected rare cancer types in which these agents had not previously been evaluated in phase II trials and for which there was clinical or biological rationale for dual immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy to be active.
Methods: We designed a multi-centre, non-blinded, open-label phase II basket trial with each of the following 8 rare cancers considered a separate phase II trial: salivary carcinoma, carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) with tumour infiltrating lymphocytes and/or expressing PD-L1, mucosal melanoma, acral melanoma, osteosarcoma, undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma, clear cell carcinoma of the ovary (CCCO) or squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCCA).
Cureus
November 2024
Orthopedic Surgery, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, JPN.
Background and objective Orthopedic surgery, particularly joint replacement, involves the use of many implants, resulting in a large amount of product packaging waste. To date, no study has surveyed artificial joint manufacturers on the recycling and reduction of packaging materials and their Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) initiatives. This questionnaire survey aimed to identify the current status of orthopedic artificial joint manufacturers in terms of implementing SDG initiatives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCureus
November 2024
Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, New Delhi, IND.
Vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women and young children, can face barriers to timely and essential healthcare, primarily due to their dependence on caregivers. Medico-legal interventions are effective tools to protect high-risk populations when traditional methods fail. Based on my experience as a Medical Officer In-Charge of a Primary Health Center in rural Haryana, India, I present three case studies where legal assistance was used to ensure necessary medical care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJAMA Netw Open
December 2024
Center for Advancing Health Services, Policy & Economics Research, Institute for Public Health, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri.
Importance: Hospital participation in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement-Advanced (BPCI-A) initiative has been associated with modest savings and stable clinical outcomes overall, but it is unknown whether the program performs differently for medical and surgical or procedural (henceforth, surgical) episodes.
Objective: To assess the association of BPCI-A participation with Medicare spending and clinical outcomes for medical and surgical episodes.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective difference-in-differences cohort study utilized 100% Medicare fee-for-service inpatient claims for episodes initiated between January 1, 2017, and September 30, 2019, and included 90 days of follow-up.
JAMA Netw Open
December 2024
Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
Importance: Commercial prices for hospital care are high and vary widely in the US. Employers and state policymakers are exploring reference-based pricing (RBP) to set their payment rates as multiples of Medicare prices; understanding the range of commercial price variation within a hospital is important for calculating the appropriate price targets that are effectively low to generate savings but also feasible and viable to local hospital markets.
Objective: To examine within-hospital maximum-to-minimum commercial hospital price gaps negotiated by 5 national insurers and estimate plan savings if the minimum prices within each hospital are used as new payment level.
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