Experts: Device Makers Must Help Cut Implant Costs

With the number of orthopedic surgeries continuing to skyrocket, device makers will need to do more to help cut the price of costly devices, experts say.

The number of hip and knee replacement procedures is projected to increase to 4.5 million by 2030, from 750,000 in 2005, which could push Medicare’s bill to near $50 billion.

This concerns many in the healthcare industry and will affect device manufacturers as much of the increased costs for hip and knee surgeries can be attributed to implant materials, said Eugene Schneller of the School of Health Management and Policy at Arizona State University.

The results of consortium-funded research on hip and knee replacement costs by Schneller, Research Associate Natalia Wilson, Professor Kathleen Montgomery of the University of California, Riverside, and Associate Professor Kevin Bozic of the University of California, San Francisco, appeared in the November/December edition of Health Affairs.

The researchers found that physicians tend to select medical devices and equipment for their patients based on familiarity with and loyalty to certain products, as well as their relationships with suppliers. Suppliers focus on offering physicians product choices, rather than thinking of the hospitals from which the payment will eventually come. Hospitals often meet resistance when they try to get surgeons involved in managing medical device inventory and costs because the surgeons feel the efforts are primarily based on saving money, not helping patients.

“There are a lot of players involved in choosing which materials to use, such as hospitals, purchasers, patients and physicians, and they are frequently not on the same page, which needs to change,” said Schneller