Joint Replacement Cost Variations Huge & Random

David Morgan, writing for Scientific American, reports that hip and knee joint replacements are subject to “huge and apparently random price variations within the same geographical area.”

His source is a Blue Cross Blue Shield study of claims in 64 healthcare markets over three years. The study found the largest price swings in hip surgery in the Massachusetts where the cost of the same sort of care varied by more than 313%. The low was $17, 910 and the high was $73, 987.

In Dallas, Texas, prices varied from $16, 772 to $61, 584, a difference of 267%. Morgan reported that the national average cost for a joint replacement is just over $30, 000 with the lowest price found in Alabama where a hip or knee replacement could be had for $11, 399.

The researchers who conducted the study, according to Morgan, looked at claims for more than 3, 000 procedures performed from 2010 to 2013. They described the variations as being “seemingly random” and called for “transparent pricing” in medicine.

Morgan reported that the data contained in the study reflects the money that both insurers and patients paid to hospitals, doctors, labs, physical therapists and whoever else were involved in the joint replacement procedures. The study estimated that knee replacements tripled between 1993 and 2009 and hip replacements doubled in the same time period.