The Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) initiative was implemented to address the two most commonly billed inpatient surgical procedures, total hip and knee arthroplasty. The primary purpose of this manuscript is to review the economic implications of one institution's mandatory involvement in CJR in comparison to prior involvement in Bundled Payment for Care Improvement (BPCI). The average cost per episode of care (EOC) was calculated using our institution's historical data. The target prices, projected savings or losses per EOC, and the projected annual savings for both BPCI and CJR were established and comparatively analyzed.Introduction
Methods
There has been a renewed interest in the surgical approach used for total hip arthroplasty (THA). Risk factors for periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) have been well studied over the past decade, yet PJI remains one of the most devastating complications following THA. We studied the impact of direct anterior (DA) versus non-direct anterior (NA) surgical approaches on PJI, and examined the impact of new perioperative protocols on PJI rates following all surgical approaches at a single institution. 6086 continuous patients undergoing primary THA at a single institution from 2013–2016 were retrospectively evaluated. Data obtained from electronic patient medical records included age, sex, body mass index (BMI), medical comorbidities, surgical approach, and presence of deep PJI. Deep PJI was defined according to National Healthcare Safety Network's (NHSN) criteria for joint space infection following prosthetic hip replacement. Infection rates were calculated yearly for the DA and NA approach groups. Covariates were assessed and used in multivariate analysis to calculate adjusted odds ratios for risk of development of PJI with DA compared to NA approaches. In order to determine the effect of adopting a set of infection prevention protocols and patient optimization on PJI, we calculated odds ratios for PJI comparing patients undergoing THA for two distinct time periods: 2013–2014 and 2015–2016. These periods corresponded to before and after we implemented a set of perioperative infection protocols.Introduction
Methods
Despite adoption of robust clinical pathways, narcotic administration within the inpatient setting is highly variable and may benefit from the implementation of standardized multi-modal pain management protocols. Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) candidates have historically received high doses of opioids within the perioperative period for the management of surgical pain. Healthcare systems have responded by improving opioid prescribing documentation and implementing narcotic-sparing pain protocols into TKA integrated care pathways (ICP). Despite these efforts, there are few technological platforms specifically designed to measure the narcotic burden immediately postoperatively. Here we present an early iteration of an inpatient narcotic administration-reporting tool, which normalizes patient narcotic consumption as an average daily morphine-milligram-equivalence (MME) per surgical encounter (MME/day/encounter) among total knee arthroplasty (TKA) recipients. This information may help orthopaedic surgeons visualize their individual granular inpatient narcotic prescribing habits individually and compared to other surgeons, while taking into consideration patient and procedure specific variables in order to optimize use and curtail unnecessary narcotic prescriptions.Summary
Introduction
