The San Francisco Examiner published a guest column yesterday, “Inroads made tracking patient progress,” by William J. Maloney, MD, AAHKS Secretary/AJRR Board Chair and AAHKS member Kevin J. Bozic, MD. Dr. Maloney and Dr. Bozic wrote the article in response to another article that ran on November 2 by an orthopaedic surgeon about a lack of registries in… Read More

This week, the Billings Gazette featured the story  of AAHKS member, Dean C. Sukin, MD and a patient who received the new Vanguard XP Knee System that Dr. Sukin helped develop. Dr. Sukin is one of two surgeons in Montana who are trained to perform the surgery using the new technology. He has “been performing the procedure about… Read More

David Backstein, MD, AAHKS member and head of Orthopedic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was featured in an article in The Toronto Star after his department received a generous $10 million donation. Dr. Backstein said that the donation will help improve access for patients needing hip and knee replacements. The Toronto philanthropists, Ira Gluskin… Read More

The Connecticut Joint Replacement Institute at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center (CJRI) in Hartford, Conn. is now certified as an ISO 9001:2008, Quality Management Systems compliant organization. CJRI is the only healthcare facility in Connecticut with this certification, and one of only 80 healthcare providers nationwide. DNV-GL, which holds CMS Deeming Authority, awarded the certification. “We already… Read More

The State of Vermont and Fletcher Allen Hospital in Burlington, Vermont have entered into a pilot bundled payment contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont for state employees specifically for hip or knee replacements. VTDigger.org reports that the payment amount is still undecided, but when it goes into effect, a lump sum will be provided by the… Read More

This week USA Today featured an article about increasing numbers of Baby Boomers receiving hip and knee replacements. They followed Trenton, Michigan’s mayor Kyle Stack in her recovery period following hip replacement surgery. The article covers quicker recovery times and the active lifestyles that patients return to after surgery. AAHKS member, James P. Eberhardt, DO was also interviewed… Read More

The LA Times featured an article this week about the hip and knee surgery warranty that Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine, CA offers its patients. The article describes how some work-based plans and private insurers offer flat-fee or bundled payment arrangements at certain hospitals. In California, Anthem Blue Cross has flat-rate fee arrangements in place with some large… Read More

Linda Rasmussen, MD was featured in a story about the physician shortage in the state of Hawaii. The Star Advertiser said that “reimbursement from government payers and health insurers is lower in Hawaii than in other states, despite having the same skills and performing the same procedures.” Young physicians having to balance the higher cost of living with… Read More

Coastal Point, a newspaper for the Delaware beach community, featured an article about the age of knee replacement patients and what they can do once they have TKR surgery. The article cites patient statistics from the AAOS and AAHKS that show more total knee replacements are being done on younger patients, “The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS),… Read More

Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, Washington has announced that they now offer a surgical warranty for total joint replacement. The warranty is part of a bundled-service contract available to insurance companies and businesses. The warranty covers the full range of care — diagnosis, surgery and rehabilitation — for an adult patient’s hip or knee replacement when all services… Read More