Savings seen largely in lower costs of artificial joints and post-surgical rehabilitation.
Bundled payment models can push Medicare and health system costs down considerably without sacrificing quality of care, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The study, the first to combine hospital cost and Medicare claims data to identify drivers of joint replacement cost savings - evaluated costs and care quality at for hip and knee replacements performed from 2008-2015 at the five-hospital Baptist Health System (BHS) network in San Antonio, Texas. Results, published online in JAMA Internal Medicine, show that the average cost dropped 20.8 percent while the effect on quality of care was unchanged or improved.
