New Medicare Rules for Joint Replacement for Some Regions of US

[Pat Walter]

Note by Patricia Walter - Good Old Medicare starting to change rules for old folks needing knees and hips.

Read Complete Article Here

...After a year of wrangling between the federal government and hospital leaders nationwide, a new rule took effect April 1 that retools Medicare payments for hip and knee replacements...

...Collier County is one of 67 regions nationwide where the new rule applies...

...Patients with medical conditions — heart disease, obesity, diabetes, lung ailments and the like — might be hard pressed to find an orthopedic surgeon willing to perform the joint replacement because hospitals face financial incentives to avoid patients with high risks of complications, according to physician leaders with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons...

...The rule aims to control costs on the $7 billion Medicare spends for hospital care alone for the 400,000 beneficiaries who receive hip or knee replacements each year, according to CMS.

[blinky]

Thanks, Pat.


Maybe this needs a new thread, but I have been wondering how people are being affected by the new rules on opioid use. The rules are mostly about people with chronic pain, so maybe not so much us, but I wondered if any of us with recent HR had been affected by the new rules. We seem to want to get off meds quickly, but do have a need for powerful narcotics initially.