Complication Prevention and Cost Savings in Total Joint Arthroplasty. The Effect of Orthopedic Procedure Migration within Hospital Referral Regions in the United States.

Background: The shift to value based total joint arthroplasty (TJA) reimbursement strategies has led to an increased focus on quality and the avoidance of poor outcomes. As a result, there has been greater encouragement for patients to undergo joint replacements in high volume centers of excellence. In this study, we examined the potential complications avoided if TJA procedure volume was shifted from poor quality (high incidence) facilities to high quality (low incidence) facilities within Hospital Referral Regions (HRRs).

Methods: Using Medicare 100% claims data linked to the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, we examined the clinical and cost benefits of shifting TJA procedures from low performing hospital to high performing hospitals within HRRs.

Results: Across all HRRs, we identified 1,878 cases of deep infection and 3,393 annual readmissions in the Medicare population that could have potentially been avoided, resulting in a mean cost savings of $41 million and $62 million, respectively, solely due to shifting procedure location from lower third performing hospitals to the upper third performing hospitals.

Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that the incidence of deep infection and all-cause readmission varies widely among and within HRRs. Further, the potential reallocation of joint procedures from low quality facilities to high quality Centers of Excellence within an HRR could result in over $103 million in annual savings related to mitigated deep infections and readmissions.