Rotator Cuff Repair Costs: It’s the Implants, Stupid

Shoulder pain may keep your clinic full, but it’s also keeping hospital CFOs up at night. With more than 460,000 rotator cuff repairs (RCRs) performed each year in the U.S. — and a $1.2 to $1.6 billion annual price tag — the question isn’t whether it’s expensive, but why.

A new study in JBJS Open Access (August 15, 2025) finally put the OR under the microscope using time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC). Translation: a forensic accounting of every minute, every anchor, every excision, and every swipe of the credit card in single-tendon supraspinatus repairs. Here’s the study: “Cost Drivers for Single-Tendon Rotator Cuff Repair: Day-of-Surgery Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing Analysis”