It is an issue that has long bedeviled our healthcare system: how to provide the best care within a system that rewards doctors for doing more, not less? Medicare, the nation’s largest public option for healthcare, is now making a change in one key area, offering new incentives based on knee replacement surgery outcomes:
Under the new system, hospitals can receive additional financial rewards by meeting certain targets for quality and overall costs. If they fall short, eventually they will be financially liable. Medicare recipients will still be able to pick doctors and hospitals for their surgeries.
It’s a great move that is bound to improve the overall flow of services that go into knee replacement surgery, from intake through rehabilitation. It may also help to establish who are the best orthopedic surgeons in San Diego, among other regions:
Research has shown that patients usually fare better with surgeons who perform a high volume of hip and knee replacements, and who are operating in hospitals that handle a large number of the procedures.
As one of the top orthopedic surgeons in Southern California, I welcome any chance to serve patients better and distinguish our careful approach to knee surgery from the pack. If you’d like to speak with one of the most experienced teams in orthopedic knee surgery, call us today.
