Tulsa Hospital Gives Medicare Patients Cash Back For Surgery - Kaiser Health News

By Phil Galewitz

An hour into knee replacement surgery — with U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For playing in the background — Dr. Yogesh Mittal smiles as he raises the left leg of his patient, 76-year-old Frank Morrow.

While holding Morrow’s thigh, the surgeon lets the bottom half of the leg fall. “Look at that,” he says, pointing to the wide range of motion permitted by the metallic-colored implant. “He’s going to love this new knee.”
Medicare, the government program that is paying for Morrow’s surgery, likes it, too.

The surgery at the 691-bed Hillcrest Medical Center here is part of an experiment testing a new “bundled” payment system. Medicare makes a single reimbursement for all the hospital and doctor care for heart and joint procedures, rather than making separate payments to the facility and physicians.
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