Geisinger to offer unlimited, free follow-up care to hip surgery patients

Geisinger Health will provide unlimited free follow-up care to its plan members who undergo hip replacement surgery by one of its providers.

The Pennsylvania-based integrated health system partnered with orthopedic medical-device maker Medacta to proportionally share the costs for any follow-up care patients may require in their lifetimes as a result of hip replacement surgery, including any device costs and hospital costs.

The offer supports the transition to value-based payment, said Dr. Michael Suk, chairman of the Geisinger Musculoskeletal Institute and Geisinger’s orthopedic surgery department.

“The program is one of many things we do at Geisinger that is looking at the patient for their lifetime and their entire spectrum of health,” Suk added. “We have the ability to leverage the entire continuum of care to keep people in their ideal health state.”

The new offering is an expansion of Geisinger’s ProvenCare Total Hip program, which provides hip replacement surgery patients with a bundled cost that includes inpatient, follow-up care and any complications within 90 days post-surgery.

To qualify for the new program, the patient can’t be a smoker or be overweight, but Suk said Geisinger typically enrolls those patients in programs to improve their health status before surgery anyway.

Hip replacement patients usually receive routine follow-up care for about a year after surgery. Patients are most vulnerable to complications in the first six months or so post-surgery. Infections can occur from the device, but the risk of complications decreases substantially a year after surgery.

Geisinger is exploring other musculoskeletal procedures that can also be included in the program as well as other conditions like wound or diabetes care.