Should your knee replacement surgery come with a warranty?

If you’re facing knee surgery, this will be of great interest to you.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans undergo knee surgery every year, and I was shocked to find that sometimes hospitals can make more on knee surgeries that goes wrong than those that go right. When it goes wrong of course, you have to come back to get it fixed.

But I got an email from Virginia Mason the other day saying they have introduced now a warranty for hip and knee replacement surgery.

Virginia Mason’s chairman and CEO Dr. Gary Kaplan joined Seattle’s Morning News to explain their thinking behind the warranty idea.

“The way our current reimbursement system works in our country, hospitals and physicians are often paid more for surgery that doesn’t go well,” says Kaplan. “Frankly, we think this is unacceptable and not really what we ought to be about in the American health care system.”

So what does the knee and hip replacement surgery warranty cover?

“It really covers complications, unforeseen complications, or unforeseen conditions that occur as a result of the surgery,” says Kaplan. “It covers really bundled services, so it involves diagnosis, the actual surgical treatment, and the rehabilitation.”

Kaplan says it’s confidence in their work that allows them to offer this kind of warranty for their work.

“We think that our total joint replacement performance in both hips and knees is second to none really in this market and it’s that confidence that allows us to say we’re going to stand behind what we do,” says Kaplan. “We actually think this should be the norm in health care and we’re hoping to lead the way.”

Kaplan says they anticipate expanding the warranty program to other procedures at the hospital.