Routine Examination of Pathology Specimens Following Knee Arthroscopy: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Abstract

Routine pathological examination of surgical specimens from patients undergoing knee arthroscopy had limited cost-effectiveness because of the low prevalence of findings that altered patient management. Histological examination of surgical specimens from arthroscopic knee surgery did not alter patient care and increased costs. We suggest that gross and histological examination of tissue removed during knee arthroscopy should be done at the discretion of the orthopaedic surgeon rather than being mandatory.

Cost effectiveness of meniscal allograft for torn discoid lateral meniscus in young women

“…Quality, efficiency, and safety are becoming more relevant with the changes in health-care law and financing, and the field of orthopedics has started to utilize this toolset [14]. Within orthopaedics, arthroplasty [15][16][17] and spine [18,19] subspecialties have utilized this technique most, while very few cost-effectiveness analyses have been performed in sports medicine [20].…”

Routine Histopathological Analysis of the Synovium in Patients with Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty

“…Although there are some studies about routine histopathologic analysis of resected synovium in the literature, these are usually obtained from patients who have undergone arthroscopic surgery. 12 To the best of our knowledge, this is the first prospective study to perform a routine pathological analysis of synovium during primary TKA.…”

Costs Versus Benefits of Routine Histopathological Examination in Total Ankle Replacement

“…Discordant diagnoses differed in clinical and pathological diagnosis with a subsequent change to future treatment. 7,8,12,[14][15][16]19,21 The CPT codes for decalcification procedure (88311) and level III and level IV surgical pathology microscopic examination (88304 and 88305, respectively) were used to estimate the prices charged and insurance reimbursement of performing routine histopathological examination. The estimated billed charges for services performed outof-network for each of the CPT codes were based on charge benchmarks in the FH Medical/Surgical Benchmarks module released in May 2014 by FAIR Health, Inc, a national independent, not-for-profit corporation that provides benchmark charges based on a proprietary database of billions of claims contributed by payers nationwide.…”