Economic Evaluation of Perioperative Admissions for Direct Lateral versus Two-Incision Minimally Invasive Total Hip Arthroplasty

Despite a high degree of success and patient demand, joint replacements are being targeted within the health care system for further attempts at cost cutting. A retrospective review was performed of perioperative, inpatient medical records and billing records for all selected minimally invasive surgery total hip arthroplasty (MIS-THA) and traditional direct lateral THA patients that were generated from the admission related to their total hip arthroplasty. We found statistically significant lower mean total charges for the inpatient stay when using the MIS-THA technique compared with the traditional THA, with mean reduction in charges of $5543 per patient over the first 180 procedures performed. Reduction in charges became more pronounced with time, resulting in a mean of $4276 reduction in charges with the MIS-THA technique during the first 25 procedures and mean charge reduction of $6901 per patient after the first 150.