Bundled Payments Reduce Hip, Knee Replacement Costs

Medicare’s bundled payment program for knee and hip replacements is reducing the cost of such treatments, a study has found.

According to a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine, the Medicare bundled payment program, known as the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement program, has driven down the cost of the those joint replacements more than 20 percent or $5500 a case.

Most of the savings have been derived through a significant decrease in the use of post-acute care, according to the study.

This decrease occurred, moreover, at a time when Medicare spending on joint replacement rose five percent.

Learn more from this McKnight’s Long-Term Care News report and the study “Cost of Joint Replacement Using Bundled Payment Models,” which can be found here, on the web site of JAMA Internal Medicine.