The purpose of this study was to determine annual Medicare utilization and hospital reimbursement rates for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA). A PearlDiver review of the entire Medicare database was conducted: 2,040,667 TKAs and 855, 899 THAs performed between 2005 and 2011 were identified. There was a +0.05% and +1.3% year over year growth in the utilization in hospital reimbursement for TKA and THA respectively. There has only been a modest increase in joint arthroplasty utilization for Medicare beneficiaries. Supply side issues, insurance mix and possible prior over-projection may explain this finding. Reimbursement trends suggest that joint arthroplasty may not be a major cost driver for the healthcare system.
Keywords: United States; economics; medicare; total hip arthroplasty; total knee arthroplasty; utilization.
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