It’s hard to buy certainty, but two healthcare entities are trying to change that. Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health Plan, along with the Swiss orthopedics company Medacta, have announced that they will offer a two-year guarantee for total hip, knee, and shoulder replacement surgeries—a world’s first.
All individuals who are members of a qualifying Geisinger Health Plan and remain in the care of a Geisinger provider are eligible. And in some situations, Geisinger and Medacta are offering a lifetime guarantee for total hip, knee, and revision knee replacement surgeries for qualifying patients.
“The promotion of patient well-being by advancing surgical approaches, implants and instruments through responsible innovation, is a cornerstone of Medacta’s mission,” said Francesco Siccardi, CEO at Medacta International. “This expansion of our successful value-based initiatives with Geisinger, initiated in 2018 launching the hip replacement program with positive responses, demonstrates how Medacta brings our patient focused mission to life.”
There is a History
This new offering builds on Geisinger’s 2014 ProvenCare Hip Fracture, Total Hip, Total Knee and Lumbar Spine evidence-based protocols meant to reduce mortality, improve outcomes, and reduce readmissions. Working with Medacta, in 2018, Geisinger became the first health system to offer a lifetime guarantee for eligible total hip replacements. A year later they extended the same lifetime guarantee to eligible new knee replacement surgeries.
The Origins of the 2021 Partnership
Michael Suk, M.D., J.D., chair of the Geisinger Musculoskeletal Institute, told OTW, “In the fall of 2017, I had the opportunity to sit with Eric Dremel, President Medacta USA and Francesco Siccardi, CEO of Medacta to continue a discussion on how health care systems and industry might partner in disrupting the dialogue on value-based care.”
“It was immediately apparent that we had a shared interest in exploring new ideas. From this discussion, and many, many more to follow, the world’s first ‘lifetime warranty’ for total hip arthroplasty to highly selected patients was born in 2018—where Geisinger and Medacta in partnership agreed to go far beyond a typical manufacturer warranty against implant failure—to sharing equally in the responsibility of the clinical outcome.”
“Given our positive experience with that limited patient pool we have now expanded the scope of the same guarantee to ALL qualified patients for a period of 2 years—regardless of comorbidity, age, mobility status, etc. Two years was chosen because this typically represents the period of highest risk for patients after total joint arthroplasty. We are proud of this groundbreaking offering because of the many benefits it brings our patients, both physically and mentally. We are confident that this partnership will only make our patients experience better care and greater peace of mind.”
Who is this for?
When OTW asked for details regarding being a member of a qualifying Geisinger Health Plan, Dr. Suk commented, “As long as the patient is treated by a Geisinger orthopedic surgeon who Medacta agrees is a master surgeon with its implants and techniques, is a member of a qualified Geisinger Health Plan and the surgery is performed in a Geisinger facility, well, those are the only requirements. This applies to ANY patient who meets these simple criteria.”
“In other words, if a patient and a surgeon decide it is the right time for surgery (and the above), then their outcomes will be guaranteed for two years. The guarantee we are announcing now is the first to extending to ALL qualified patients for a period of two years and for ANY issue related to the total joint surgery—a DVT [deep vein thrombosis], a PE [pulmonary embolism], an infection or any reoperation for any reason—it will be covered.”
“Specific to the total joint experience, we have not had a single claim on the guarantee to date. Because this is a unique partnership between Geisinger and Medacta, the offer is financed as a shared expense between partners.”
“My hope in this effort is to continue to press the boundaries of our dialogue around value-based care and the role of consumerism. Guarantees on clinical outcome force the conversation on ‘what can be controlled’ and ‘who should be responsible’ in an acute episode of care—I hope this effort moves us toward the belief that such things are possible.”
“Patient well-being is cornerstone to Medacta, and we are proud to join Geisinger on this innovative partnership providing intensive training, patient peace-of-mind and optimal surgical outcomes” stated Matthew Goudy, Medacta USA Managing Director. “Geisinger, one of the nation’s leading innovative health systems, continues to display their commitment in making healthcare easier by being the first to offer this lifetime guarantee.”
