Great News for Medicare Patients Needing Hip Replacement Surgery

By Maria K. Todd, PhD, MHA, SGSC Director of Business Development

Great news! Patients no longer need to be admitted to a explained Dr. Hicken. “Because muscle is moved out hospital for hip replacement surgery as of January 1, 2021! of the way rather than cut into, patients enjoy quicker

Unless the patient is frail and needs to be hospitalized, healing and less pain. Medicare has followed the current trend that has been “Using the direct anterior approach, no hip increasing over the past eighteen months to move hip precautions are required after the surgery and the risk replacement surgery cases to the independent outpatient of hip dislocation after surgery is significantly less than facility setting. with other approaches,” continued Dr. Hicken. “While

The reason? Lower costs to patients and taxpayers the patient usually recovers quicker than with other with minimal, if any, reduction in safety and outcomes. Because of concerns about COVID-19, most inpatient Gregory J. Hicken, MD, trained at the Mayo Clinic in surgical approaches, when total hip replacements are compared a year after surgery, there’s not a significant surgeries around the nation have been suspended Rochester Minnesota, which difference. By comparison, there tends to be a higher indefinitely, causing patients to wait in pain. Going forward, cases that will be approved for hospital inpatient stays are limited to significantly difficult revisions, very has consistently been ranked in the top three centers for orthopedic surgery for the last twenty years. He worked rate of trochanteric bursitis and limp following the anterolateral approach and a higher rate of dislocation following the posterior approach.” sick patients, and emergency traumas. with many of the thirty-plus The implant that is used at SGSC is mobile bearing. St. George Surgical Center (SGSC) surgeons have been performing hip replacement surgeries since 2018 in the consultants there on complex joint reconstruction problems and has been using computer This implant increases the stability of the hip and lengthens the longevity of the implant by decreasing wear. outpatient setting with excellent safety, low infection rates, navigation and robotics “With home help support, patients recover better at great clinical outcomes, and very high patient satisfaction. for the past twenty years to home with family nearby,” added Dr. Hicken. “SGSC’s SGSC is also the only independent outpatient surgery facility in southern Utah that is licensed for overnight increase the accuracy and safety of joint replacement surgery. He pioneered new patients also benefit from the new and improved pain management approaches used at SGSC that use fewer stays, and in a few weeks, SGSC will receive an upgrade to methods of pain control and opioid medications.” its robotics technology to increase accuracy and precision on both total and partial knee replacements and eventually, total and partial hip replacements. moved a majority of his joint replacement procedures to outpatient surgery centers without compromising quality Robotic-assisted technology does not add extra cost to the patient or insurer. Patients with traditional Medicare and a secondary insurance usually have zero

Most of the hip replacement surgeries performed at of care or comfort. out-of-pocket cost to have their hip or knee replacement SGSC are done by “direct anterior approach.” According surgery at SGSC. They will receive additional advantages to Dr. Gregory J. Hicken of Elite Healthcare of Southern Utah, the and services not otherwise available in southern Utah. surgeon determines if the patient is a good candidate for this procedure. To learn more, join SGSC and Dr. Hicken for Lunch with the “While not everybody is a candidate for direct anterior approach hip Doc at 11:30 a.m. on January 22, 2021, at Magleby’s Restaurant replacement surgery, it is a modification of a seventy-year-old surgical where the doctor will explain the advantages of robotics-assisted approach,” he said. hip and knee replacements and answer questions from the audience.

The direct anterior approach has several advantages over the way There’s no cost or obligation to attend. RSVP to 435-705-7039 to other surgeons in St. George perform the procedure. “For one thing, reserve your seat. Don’t wait! Seating is limited, and half the seats the direct anterior approach to hip replacement is muscle sparing,” are already claimed!