Customized Knee Implants Drive Significant Cost Savings in a Medicare Population

Conformis Inc. announced results from a recent study presented at the Knee Society Meeting, entitled “Customized Knee Implants Drive Cost Savings in a Medicare Population”. The abstract was presented by Mary O’Connor, M.D., director of the Center for Musculoskeletal Care at Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Health. The study reported overall spending on Medicare Fee for Service (FFS) patients was significantly less when treated with Conformis customized individually made (CIM) knee implants vs. standard off-the-shelf (OTS) implants.
 
This study, which was conducted by researchers at Baker Tilly Virchow Krause (Baker Tilly) and Yale School of Medicine, identified 739 CIM and 228,697 OTS total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients using a defined selection criteria. After conducting propensity score matching to ensure both study cohorts had similar baseline demographic, comorbidity profiles, and were from the same geographic regions of the United States, a total of 4,434 TKA patients (739 CIM and 3,695 OTS) were selected for analysis. The analysis showed that overall episode of care expenditures were $1,697 less for CIM patients ($18,585) than for OTS patients ($20,280) (p<0.0001) resulting in $0.08 per-member-per-month savings. The study had been accepted for publication and is tentatively expected to be available online in March 2019.
 
“Previous studies have shown Conformis CIM implants improve numerous clinical outcomes, such as function and alignment, compared to OTS implants. This is the first time the economic impact of utilizing Conformis CIM vs. OTS implants has been analyzed within the Medicare FFS population long-term,” said lead researcher Mary O’Connor, M.D., director of the Center for Musculoskeletal Care at Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Health. “The largest reductions in episode spending were associated with Conformis CIM patients who had overall fewer costs associated with the procedure and hospital stay as well as their post-acute care needs.”
 
Costs analyzed include reimbursement for the initial procedure, pre-operative CT scan, and 12-month post-operative healthcare utilization. Savings were driven mainly by a lower average initial procedure cost and lower post-operative spending for inpatient services and skilled nursing facility costs.
 
“Total knee arthroplasty is one of the highest categories of spending in the Medicare fee-for-service program and is projected to exceed three million procedures annually by 2030,” said Mark Augusti, CEO and president of Conformis. “These results are not only significant for providers looking to save money long-term, but also for payers looking for high quality care in episode-of-care and/or in value-based contracting models. 
 
Disclosure: Dr. O’Connor conducts research on Conformis implants for which her institution receives research support from Conformis.
 
Conformis is a medical technology company that uses its proprietary iFit Image-to-Implant technology platform to develop, manufacture and sell joint replacement implants that are designed and manufactured to fit and conform to each patient’s unique anatomy.  Conformis offers a line of patient conforming total and partial knee systems and a hip system that include sterilized single-use instruments delivered in a single package to the hospital. Conformis owns or exclusively in-licenses issued patents and pending patent applications that cover patient-specific implants and instrumentation for all major joints. In clinical studies, Conformis iTotal CR demonstrated superior clinical outcomes, including better function and greater patient satisfaction, compared to traditional, off-the-shelf implants. 
 
Baker Tilly is a nationally recognized, full-service accounting and advisory firm. Baker Tilly’s healthcare practice is comprised of consulting (including health economists), tax and audit professionals, that work with hundreds of hospitals, health systems, health plans and life science companies developing growth strategies.