Patient Perception of Physician Reimbursement in Elective Shoulder Surgery

Financial Impact of Third-Party Reimbursement Due to Changes in the Definition of ICD-9 Arthroscopy Codes 29880, 29881, and 29877

“…While the current debate and policies seem unpredictable, one thing that has been consistent is the public's lack of understanding of health-care funding and payments. As demonstrated in two previous studies related to joint replacement and shoulder surgery, the difference between what patients believe physician reimbursement to be and what is actually reimbursed is sizeable 17,18 . When considering what patients believe a physician should be reimbursed for these surgical interventions, the results are even more substantial.…”

“…It should be emphasized that this was a retrospective study, so the surgeons all acted independently and there was no organized effort to change coding habits among members of the group. The reimbursement for these other codes fluctuated with some increases and decreases but overall, reimbursement was very similar between years and there was no significant change in reimbursement for any codes e161(5) 17,2014 except 29880 and 29881 (Table VI). Code 29879, which can be used with 29880 and 29881 and can serve as a substitute code for 29877 depending on surgeon interpretation, was used more frequently in 2012 (Table IV).…”