The Case for Out-patient Total Knee Arthroplasty
And Compelling Reasons Why
Total Knee Arthroplasty may be removed from the Medicare Inpatient Only list.
In 2000 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) to the Medicare Inpatient Only (IPO) list in 2000. More than a decade later, in 2013, the CMS proposed that the procedure be removed from the IPO list in anticipation that some Medicare beneficiaries would be well served in an outpatient environment. There was considerable adverse public reaction to this proposed move so it was not finalized at that time.
Now, three years later, the CMS is once again considering removal of TKA from the IPO list and soliciting public comments on that proposal. Driving this effort are two prime factors:
