Abstract for:Adoption Dynamics of Patient-Specific Knee Implants

More than 6 million people are living with knee implants in the United States as of 2017, and the number of patients requiring knee replacements is expected to increase to more than 3.4 million per year by 2030. Yet the costs and benefits of total joint replacement procedures have not been fully evaluated. The need for strategies to improve the quality of knee implants and the effectiveness of procedures and operations is more apparent than ever. The present study used a dynamic model to simulate the adoption of patient-specific implants and instrumentations (PS) and its economical and patient outcomes impacts compared to traditionally manufactured off-the-shelf (OTS) implants. The results showed that a higher rate in PS adoption has positive long-term effects, not only on some categories of patient outcomes, but also on the economics of the healthcare system. The results indicate that a higher rate of PS adoption ultimately saves hospitals and surgeons 9% on procedure time, 30% on recovery time, reduces the number of readmissions and revision surgeries by 74% and 58%, respectively, and lessens the costs for the stakeholders of the system by 6%.