Hospitals in northern New Jersey, including Holy Name, The Valley Hospital and Hackensack University Medical Center joined the Medicare bundled payment pilot program for joint replacements and are seeing successes, according to a report from The Record.
Here are five key notes on the joint replacement bundled payment program:
1. The bundle includes care for 90 days postoperatively for surgery, home care, nursing home services, physical therapy and other treatment.
2. Some of the hospitals launched new protocols to meet standards and are reporting success with patients returning home sooner from rehabilitation centers or being discharged home initially.
3. Hospitals report saving as much as $3,500 per case with the bundles. Hackensack University Medical Center performs around 1,900 hip and knee replacements every year and reported half of all patients went home after surgery last year, up from 20 percent in prior periods.
4. The model is also working to avoid hospital readmissions, which has a huge cost savings attached. The average patient at Hackensack was discharged to rehabilitation for an average of 21 days, but now their stay is reduced to eight days.
5. A case manager at Valley Hospital calls patients to check up with them and discuss symptoms as well as advise about services that can help them during recovery, according to the report.