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

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Dr. Scott Oliver, an orthopedic surgeon at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth, said his department had four orthopedic surgeriez canceled just last week. He said one patienrt who cancelled ownsan air-conditioning businessz and was afraid to miss Another patient, who did have surgery, was told she riskefd losing her job if she didn’t return withi n six weeks, which was shorter than the recommendex recovery period.
Oliver reports that his overall volumwe is down 20 and other surgeons say they are hearing ofsimilae drops, especially at smaller According to Massachusetts Hospitaol Association numbers, 59 percent of hospitals are reportinb a decline in elective surgerg for the quarter ending March 31. The MHA did not breakl out numbers fororthopedic “There is definitely a palpable increase in concern over missing work and possibly losing a job,” said Dr. Daniep Snyder, an orthopedic surgeon at . Traditiona knee replacements can require long recovery periods of six to12 “We try to accommodate different work schedules.
Landscapers want to do it in the slow accountants want to schedule the surgery for aftetax day,” he said. The pressure comes as the numbe rof younger, working orthopedic surgery patientz is increasing. For instance, a study in the journal Publixc Health Reports found that the number of knee replacementsw roseby 81.5 percent between 1990 and 2000 and that the grouop with the fastest rate of growthn was the 45- to 49-year-old age group. The study also found that while Medicare remains the most common payer forsuch procedures, the proportion of chargesw paid for by private insurance has risen 39 percent.
Orthopedic surgeons say that while retired people want to get theidr surgeries over with as soon as those with jobsand employer-paid health insurancde are asking more often, “How long is it safe to Dr. Mark Gebhardt, head of the orthopedics departmengat , said that whiler his overall surgery volume is pretty much flat, he has recentlh seen a number of cancellations of procedures — two were knee replacements and the other two were sports-related arthroscopic surgeries.
Gebhardgt said even for those patientswho aren’tt afraid of losing their jobs, that for those with employer-based health insurance, “some are well-covered and some are He pointed to increasingf co-pays and deductibles as another reason some patients are putting off Orthopedic surgeons say that when workingt patients come in, they are offered an injection that can help buy them eightf to 12 months. Surgeonss like Snyder also offer newer procedures that will help patient get back to work Snyder uses a procedursecalled OtisKnee. “Four years ago, I did 30 of these In the past year I have done he said. Dr.
Bill Murzic, a surgeoj at New England Orthopedic Specialistsin Peabody, said he also has seen mostly for knee and shoulder surgeries, among younger, working He said he has also seen a drop-of in initial appointments over the last But, he said, “I have also had a few casesd where patients have come to me and ‘Look, I’m going to lose my job and my can we do the surgerg now?’ ”