Transparency to Reduce Surgical Implant Waste

Background

Rising health care costs and emphasis on value have placed the onus of reducing healthcare costs on the surgeon.

Methods

Financial data from 3,973 hip, knee, and shoulder arthroplasties performed at a physician owned orthopedic hospital was retrospectively reviewed over a two-year period. A wasted implant financial report was posted starting the second year of the study. Each surgeon''s performance could be identified by his peers.

Results

After posting of the financial report, 1.11% of all hip and knee arthroplasty cases had a waste event compared to 1.50% during the control year. Shoulder arthroplasty waste events occurred twice as often than that observed in hip and knee arthroplasty during the study period. A decrease in waste events was observed but was not statistically significant (p = 0.30).

Conclusions

Posting a non-blinded wasted implant data sheet was associated with a reduction in the number of wasted orthopedic surgical implants in this series, although the reduction was not statistically significant.