Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, La., launched a new program to guarantee hip and knee replacement surgeries for 30 days after the procedure.
"The fact that our Lady of the Lake is offering this guarantee is a clear demonstration that the hospital understands the commitment made by myself and other orthopedic physicians to always achieve the best outcomes for patients," said Bryan Griffith, MD, an orthopedic surgeon. "Through our participation in the bundled payment program with CMS, we demonstrated that by adhering to a set of best practices, our orthopedic team achieved the best outcomes for patients undergoing hip and knee replacement surgeries."
Here are five things to know about the program:
1. The hospital will not charge patients, employers and insurers additional bills for any surgery-related follow-up care within 30 days of the initial procedure.
2. The guarantee covers admission, anesthesia, surgery and recovery for adult hip or knee replacement services provided by Our Lady of the Lake and physician partners.
3. Patients are required to pledge to be an active participant in recovery and care before participating in the guarantee program. This includes attending preoperative education classes and evaluations as well as following postoperative instructions and follow-up care.
4. The guarantee doesn't cover implant failure costs.
5. The joint replacement program at Lake performs more than 1,500 joint surgeries annually and last year met or exceeded quality benchmarks for overall quality, readmissions, mortality and patient experience.
Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center is the only Louisiana hospital to offer a guarantee for joint replacement as well as the only Medicare Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative hospital in the state.