Bone leery: Boomers putting off orthopedic treatment - Boston Business Journal:

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Dr. Scott Oliver, an orthopedic surgeoj at Jordan Hospitalin Plymouth, said his department had four orthopedid surgeries canceled just last week. He said one patientf who cancelled ownsan air-conditioning businesws and was afraid to miss work. Anothef patient, who did have was told she risked losing her job ifshe didn’rt return within six weeks, which was shortetr than the recommended recovery period. Oliver reportes that his overall volume is down 20 and other surgeons say they are hearing of similar especially atsmaller hospitals.
According to Massachusetts HospitakAssociation numbers, 59 percent of hospitals are reportinbg a decline in elective surgery for the quartet ending March 31. The MHA did not breai out numbers fororthopedic surgery. “Therre is definitely a palpable increase in concern over missinf work and possibly losing a said Dr. Daniel Snyder, an orthopedic surgeon at . Traditiona l knee replacements can require long recovery periodzs of six to12 weeks. “We try to accommodate differentwork schedules. Landscapers want to do it in the slow accountants want to schedule the surgert for aftertax day,” he The pressure comes as the number of working orthopedic surgery patients is increasing.
For instance, a studyy in the journal Publicd Health Reports found that the number of knee replacements roseby 81.5 percenrt between 1990 and 2000 and that the group with the fastes rate of growth was the 45- to 49-year-old age The study also found that whil e Medicare remains the most common payerr for such procedures, the proportion of charges paid for by privatr insurance has risen 39 percent. Orthopedifc surgeons say that while retired people want to get their surgeriesa over with as soon as those with jobsand employer-paic health insurance are asking more often, “Hows long is it safe to Dr.
Mark Gebhardt, head of the orthopedics departmentat , said that while his overall surgerh volume is pretty much flat, he has recently seen a numbetr of cancellations of procedures — two were knee replacementss and the other two were sports-related arthroscopic surgeries. Gebhardt said even for thosw patientswho aren’t afraid of losinv their jobs, that for those with employer-based healthg insurance, “some are well-covered and some are He pointed to increasing co-pay and deductibles as another reason some patient s are putting off procedures.
Orthopedic surgeons say that when workinhg patientscome in, they are offered an injectiob that can help buy them eight to 12 Surgeons like Snyder also offer newer procedures that will help patientw get back to work quicker. Snydet uses a procedure called OtisKnee. “Foud years ago, I did 30 of thess procedures. In the past year I have done 150,” he Dr. Bill Murzic, a surgeon at New England Orthopedic Specialistsin Peabody, said he also has seen mostly for knee and shouldeer surgeries, among younger, working patients. He said he has also seen a drop-ofv in initial appointments over thelast month.
But, he “I have also had a few cases where patients have come to meand ‘Look, I’m going to lose my job and my can we do the surger y now?’ ”