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A Preferred Vendor Model Reduces the Costs of Sports Medicine Surgery
Matthew R Boylan1, Anisha Chadda1, Joseph A Bosco1
1Department of Orthopedic Surgery, NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital, New York, NY.
Purpose:
To report on our institution's first year of experience with a preferred vendor program for implants and disposables for sports medicine surgery.
Methods:
Cost and utilization data for implants and disposables were analyzed for knee and shoulder sports medicine surgeries performed during the 2-year period including the 12 months preceding the start of the contract (contract year 0 [CY0] and the first 12 months of the contract period (CY1). The costs of grafts and biological therapies were excluded. Utilization of the preferred vendor's products, operative time, and per-case costs were compared between the 2 time periods and adjusted for patient factors and case mix.
Results:
Utilization of the preferred vendor's shavers (0% to 94%, P < .001) and radiofrequency ablation wands (0% to 91%, P < .001) increased significantly in CY1 (n = 5,068 cases) compared with CY0 (n = 5,409 cases), with a small but significant increase in use of the preferred vendor's implants (64% to 67%, P = .023). There was no significant difference in mean operative time between CY0 and CY1 (P = .485). Mean total per-case implant and disposable costs decreased by 12% (P < .001) in CY1 versus CY0.
Conclusion:
Our institution was able to reduce the costs of sports medicine surgery with the implementation of a preferred single-vendor program for implants and disposables. This program had widespread surgeon adoption and did not have any detrimental effect on operating room efficiency.
Level Of Evidence:
III, retrospective comparative study.
