Transparency to reduce surgical implant waste

Abstract

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.