New York is a changing market for outpatient surgery centers, and Syracuse.com reported a trend toward patients opting for outpatient orthopedic procedures, including joint replacements.
Here are five trends covered in the report:
1. Currently, around 20 percent of adult surgeries in all Syracuse, N.Y.-based hospitals are joint replacements, and around 50 percent could be performed in the outpatient setting.
2. The trend toward outpatient surgery centers could hit hospitals because total joint replacements are a high-dollar procedure. However, the trend would be a "boon" for ASCs and could save Medicare around $300 million per year on total knee replacements.
3. Medicare reimbursement for inpatient knee replacements is around $12,384, compared to $10,122 for outpatient surgery centers. Total costs for inpatient total knees could range from $21,841 to $68,000.
4. Syracuse-based Upstate University Hospital my offer outpatient total joints at its Community campus, according to the report, while St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center is a partner with Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists and doesn't expect to see a significant change in inpatient total joint replacement volume in the future. SOS plans to open a larger outpatient surgery center that can accommodate outpatient total joint replacements in early 2019, reporting around 10 percent to 15 percent of its total joint replacements could initially be done in the outpatient setting.
5. Total joint replacement in ASCs is still rare in New York; Andrew Wickline, MD, performed the state's first outpatient total knee replacement at Apex Surgical Center in Westmoreland in late 2017. He has performed around 600 same-day procedures in the past 18 months at Utica-based St. Elizabeth Medical Center.
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