Temporal Analysis of Medicare Physician Reimbursement and Procedural Volume for all Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Procedures Billed to Medicare Part B From 2000 to 2019.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate trends in annual arthroplasty volume among the Medicare population, as well as assess true Medicare reimbursement to physicians for all hip and knee arthroplasty procedures billed to Medicare since year 2000.
METHODS: The publicly available Medicare Part B National Summary Data File from years 2000 to 2019 was utilized. Collected data included true physician reimbursements for all primary total hip and knee, unicompartmental knee, and revision hip/knee arthroplasty procedures from 2000 to 2019. Monetary data was adjusted for inflation to year 2019 dollars. Change was assessed and compared by procedure type.
RESULTS: From 2000 to 2019, physicians billed Medicare Fee-for-service for 8,363,821 hip and knee arthroplasty procedures. During this time, the annual number of included arthroplasty procedures billed to Medicare increased by 100%. From 2000 to 2019 across all included procedures, the mean physician reimbursement after adjusting for inflation decreased by -$729.82 (-38.9%) per procedure. This varied by procedure type. Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty was the only procedure to experience an increased mean reimbursement when adjusting for inflation, increasing by $241.40 (+16.6%) per procedure from 2000 to 2019.
CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates decreasing Medicare reimbursement to physicians within hip and knee arthroplasty from 2000 to 2019 when adjusting for inflation. This study is important for informing the potential development of more equitable payment models and maintaining access for arthroplasty care moving forward.