Researchers examined Medicare records and recorded the annual payments, new diagnoses of heart failure, diabetes rates and depression.
The cumulative average Medicare payment for all treatments was $63,940 for the patients who did not undergo total knee replacement and $83,783 for those who did. These costs don’t include prescription drugs, where are used at higher rates among the non-TKR group.
Additional findings include:
• Risk of mortality was double in the non-TKR group
• Risk of heart failure was lower among TKR group
• No difference in diabetes rates
• Depression was slightly higher for TKR patients for the first three years, but no difference was found after five years
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