Leading Orthopedic Surgeons at UNOVA Hip & Knee Center Leverage Proprietary Protocols to Improve Outpatient Total Joint Replacement Outcomes
Drs. J. Mandume Kerina and Thomas Hatton McCoy Provide Access to Arthroplasty with Medicare’s Approval of Outpatient Total Joint Procedures at Ambulatory Surgery Centers
Lady Lake, Florida, August 18, 2021 – Total knee replacement became eligible for Medicare payment in the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) setting in 2020, and Medicare added total hip replacements to its approved outpatient ASC list in 2021. Drs. J. Mandume Kerina and Thomas Hatton McCoy, orthopedic surgeons leading the UNOVA Hip & Knee Center in Lady Lake, Florida, are optimistic about this change and what it means for total joint replacement candidates. The team has developed several proprietary protocols that ensure “outpatient” truly means “outpatient” for their total joint replacement patients. These protocols have been developed over many years to optimize outcomes for patients while employing the minimal use of opioid pain killers both pre and post-operatively.
With the passage of Medicare’s new rules, many facilities offer “outpatient” total joint replacement to patients. However, technically, the term “outpatient” can still include an overnight hospital stay. At UNOVA Hip & Knee Center, on the day of the procedure, most patients that enter the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) by 8 a.m. are on their way home by noon, ensuring true “outpatient” surgery. Additionally, Total Hip Replacement patients often recover using only over-the-counter, Extra-Strength Tylenol for pain relief.
“The opportunity for more Medicare patients to have access to total joint arthroplasty in an outpatient setting is an exciting development in our country’s efforts to provide more equitable healthcare,” said Dr. J. Mandume Kerina of UNOVA Hip & Knee Center. “Our Center’s approach to total joint replacement surgery is the result of years of analysis and listening to patients. Not every patient is the same, but every patient deserves the opportunity to live their life to the fullest,” he added.
A recent study in people with hip and knee osteoarthritis (Hawker GA, Croxford R, Bierman AS, et al.) revealed that a walking disability is associated with reduced life expectancy. Patients have an excess mortality risk as their disability progresses, and they become functionally dependent on medical therapy. In effect, a total hip replacement increases both the quantity and the quality of life by avoiding disease progression.
Forward-thinking innovators dedicated to reimagining global health, Drs. Kerina and McCoy use a patient-centered, individualized, research-based approach in their work. By empowering patients and other practitioners to embrace outcomes-based healthcare, focusing on the impact of services and the reduction of waste – both financially and procedurally – patients can spend less time in pain and experience much faster recovery than traditional in-patient total joint replacement patients.
“I think we will start seeing a larger percentage of total joint replacements performed in an outpatient setting. Outpatient arthroplasty tremendously increases the value of arthroplasty as an option in the treatment of degenerative arthritis of the hip or knee,” said Dr. Thomas Hatton McCoy. “Over the past decade, tracking the outcomes of our outpatient total joint replacement patients, we have recorded a decrease in infection rate which is now less than 1%, and an increase in recovery speed. As the surgical outcomes improve, hospital readmissions decrease, the cost of care decreases; facilities function more efficiently, patient satisfaction improves; payers experience greater value, and providers experience greater job satisfaction. So it’s a win-win, win-win situation.”
As a fellowship-trained, board-certified orthopedic surgeon who also partners in the design and development of new surgical techniques, instruments, and implants, Dr. Kerina is transforming lives, one by one, in his specialty and beyond. He believes that to build sustainable healthcare systems on a global scale, we need to focus on individualized care designed with the local resources and population in mind.
Dr. McCoy is equally accomplished with numerous published peer-reviewed articles related to hip and knee replacement. He has also designed instrumentation for primary and revision total knees and hips, as well as patented one of the first instrumentation systems designed to lower the risk of total hip replacement dislocation. Dr. McCoy specializes in muscle and tissue sparing surgical techniques such as the direct anterior total hip and the kinematic alignment total knee, non-opioid/narcotic anesthesia and recovery with rapid mobilization.
To learn more about outpatient total knee replacement and outpatient total hip replacement in an ambulatory surgery setting, contact the experts at UNOVA Hip & Knee. The UNOVA team has designed an outpatient arthroplasty process unique to the ambulatory surgery setting. From patient identification and optimization through post-acute care triage, the team has developed algorithms and techniques that mitigate patient risk and deliver superior outcomes. This is accomplished through patient stratification and optimization, tissue-sparing surgical techniques paired with opioid-free anesthesia and recovery, and a comprehensive team approach to post-acute care triage engaging home physical therapy and nursing.
About UNOVA Hip & Knee
The orthopedic surgeons at UNOVA Hip & Knee Center are an experienced and compassionate team of professionals utilizing a platform that provides technologically advanced, safe hip and knee surgery in the outpatient setting. With a goal of getting patients back to their favorite activities as quickly as possible, the team leverages proprietary protocols to provide outpatient total knee and hip replacements. www.unovahipandknee.com
Media Contact: Karolyn Raphel
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