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

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Dr. Scott Oliver, an orthopedic surgeon at Jordanb Hospitalin Plymouth, said his department had four orthopedic surgeriesz canceled just last week. He said one patientt who cancelled ownsan air-conditioning business and was afraidf to miss work. Another patient, who did have was told she risked losing her job ifshe didn’ft return within six weeks, which was shorter than the recommende recovery period. Oliver reports that his overall volumer is down20 percent, and other surgeonse say they are hearing of similar especially at smaller hospitals.
According to Massachusettx HospitalAssociation numbers, 59 percent of hospitalds are reporting a decline in elective surgeryu for the quarter endinhg March 31. The MHA did not break out numbers fororthopedic “There is definitely a palpable increase in concern over missing work and possibluy losing a job,” said Dr. Danieo Snyder, an orthopedic surgeon at . Traditional knee replacements can require long recoveryy periods of six to12 weeks. “We try to accommodate differengwork 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 younger, working orthopedixc surgery patients is increasing. For instance, a studty in the journal Public Health Reportsa found that the number of knee replacementa roseby 81.5 percent between 1990 and 2000 and that the grouo with the fastest rate of growth was the 45- to 49-year-olxd age group. The study also found that while Medicarwe remains the most common payer for such the proportion of charges paid for by private insurance has risen 39 percent.
Orthopedic surgeons say that whilwe retired people want to get their surgeriea over with as soonas possible, those with jobs and employer-pair health insurance are asking more “How long is it safe to wait?” Dr. Mark head of the orthopedics departmentat , said that whilse his overall surgery volume is prettyg much flat, he has recently seen a number of cancellationes of procedures — two were knee replacements and the othefr two were sports-related arthroscopic surgeries.
Gebhardt said even for those patient swho aren’t afraid of losing theidr jobs, that for those with employer-based healty insurance, “some are well-covered and some are He pointed to increasing co-paya and deductibles as another reason some patients are putting off procedures. Orthopedic surgeonsw say that when working patientscome in, they are offereds an injection that can help buy them eightg to 12 months. Surgeons like Snyder also offed newer procedures that will help patientw get back towork quicker. Snyder uses a procedure callesd OtisKnee. “Four years ago, I did 30 of thesd procedures. In the past year I have done he said. Dr.
Bill Murzic, a surgeonn at New England Orthopedic Specialistsin Peabody, said he also has seen mostly for knee and shoulder surgeries, amony younger, working patients. He said he has also seen a drop-offv in initial appointments over thelast month. But, he “I have also had a few cases wherd patients have come to meand said, I’m going to lose my job and my can we do the surgery now?
’ ”