Outpatient total joint replacements, some of the highest reimbursement-earning procedures in ASCs, have seen massive growth in the last few years.
Here are 14 insights to know:
1. More than 550 ASCs perform total joint replacements in the U.S. Here's a list of them.
2. California, Florida and Texas are the most densely populated states with ASCs that perform total joint surgeries.
3. The potential savings of moving total joint replacements to surgery centers is high. The cost of treatment is about 40 percent less in an ASC compared to a hospital setting.
4. On average, outpatient total joint replacements cost $11,677, with inpatient surgery costing $19,361, according to research from the Hospital for Special Surgery and Rothman Orthopaedic Institute.
5. UnitedHealth Group projects that migrating half of routine total joint replacements from hospitals to ASCs could mean $3 billion in annual savings — $2 billion for privately insured individuals and employers and $1 billion for Medicare beneficiaries and the federal government.
6. The UnitedHealth study also found 90 percent of procedures for privately insured patients were performed in hospitals, but surgical site infections were present in 2.5 percent of those patients and resulted in 26,000 patients having longer hospital stays and requiring additional treatment.
7. ASC total joint replacement surgeries were up 55 percent in 2020, according to the American Joint Replacement Registry's 2021 annual report. The majority of joint procedures performed in this time frame were primary knee, at 54.5 percent, and primary hip, at 38.6 percent.
8. The most successful outpatient total joint replacement programs are reliant on physician buy-in and involvement, in addition to well thought-out protocols and an engaged anesthesia partner, Armando Colon, the privacy and compliance officer at the Day Surgery Center in Winter Haven, Fla., told Becker's.
9. Given the potential savings, ASCs are anticipated to perform 68 percent of orthopedic surgeries by the mid-2020s, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
10. According to research by the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, performing total knee replacements and knee mosaicplasty procedures at ASCs is projected to save Medicare $73.4 billion by 2028.
11. The biggest ASC management companies are doubling down on total joint surgeries. For United Surgical Partners International, total joint replacement services grew 120 percent in the second quarter of 2021, and its spine business grew 21 percent during that period. For Surgery Partners, 2021's third quarter total joint replacement volume jumped 108 percent over the same period last year for its ASCs.
12. Sg2, a healthcare strategy and advisory firm, projected 37 percent of total joint replacement surgeries would be outpatient this year, with that number rising to 51 percent by 2026.
13. Artificial intelligence may be used to aid in clinical decision-making after total joint replacement surgeries, according to a study from the Hospital for Special Surgery.
14. Surgical robots increase efficiency during total joint replacements, but the cost of such robotic systems can be restricting.