3 Takeaways from the Annual Meeting of AAOS (by Arundhati Parmar at MDDIonline)
How is bundled payment in joint replacement going to affect device makers? At AAOS, some conclusions could be reached.
A sea change is occurring in the way joint replacement surgery is performed and reimbursed in the U.S. On April 1, the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model that by which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will pay hospitals in 67 metropolitan statistical areas a fixed amount for the entire episode of joint replacement that stretches from 72 hours prior to surgery through 90 days after the procedure.
After attending the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, where the topic was discussed thoroughly, these three conclusions can be safely made about what the future holds.
New Kind of Innovation Will be Rewarded
In the medical device world overall, and in the orthopedics world in particular, there was one simple definition of innovation — launch a newer version of an existing product with more bells and whistles and charging a premium for it. In an exclusive interview with MD+DI at AAOS, Stryker CEO Kevin Lobo said those days are now over....
