Spending, quality effects of Medicare’s bundled payments for lower-extremity joint replacement

Editor's Note

In this study, researchers found that over a 3-year period, compared to no participation, participation in Medicare’s Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) program was associated with a 1.6% decrease in average lower extremity joint replacement spending with no changes in quality, driven by early participants.

When looking at whether improvements vary by timing of participation or arise from patient selection rather than changes in clinical practice, patient selection accounted for 27% of savings.

These findings have important policy implication in view of BPCI’s successor program, the BPCI Advanced Model and its two participation waves, the researchers say.