Bundled Payments Update

Orthopedic Network News—July 31, 2017

Orthopedic Network News (ONN) featured HSS chief value medical officer Catherine H. MacLean, MD, PhD, in an article about an update on the bundle payment initiatives introduced by Medicare in 2012. Dr. MacLean discussed how bundle payment for joint replacements affects patient care at HSS.

Dr. MacLean said a major change prompted by the bundle has been to carefully manage post-acute care (PAC). As a result, patients are getting home sooner and healthier either directly from the hospital or after greatly shortened stays at skilled nursing facilities. She added that HSS has a team of doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and case managers who track patients after discharge to prevent com­plications and facilitate rapid rehabilitation back to regular life.

HSS also monitors post-discharge care through patient reported outcome measures (PROMS), including the HOOS, Jr. and KOOS, Jr.

Additionally, ONN reported that HSS holds the number one spot on both the Top 10 Medicare Hip and Knee Replacement Hospitals list (2015-2016) as well as the Top 10 U.S. Hospitals with Medicare ‘DRG-Payment’ Hip and Knee Replacement Procedures (2016) list. HSS has held the top spots in each survey performed by this newsletter, often with twice as many Medicare procedures as the hospital in the second spot. One survey reported that HSS performed 10,232 joint replacements in 2015 and 10,141 cases in 2016.

Read the full article at orthopedicnetworknews.com [subscription required]. This was also featured in the July 2017 print edition.