Utilizing Health-Care Resources Wisely: Understanding the Efficacy of Our Interventions: Commentary on an article by Nattapol Tammachote, MD, MSc, et al.: "Intra-Articular, Single-Shot Hylan G-F 20 Hyaluronic Acid Injection Compared with Corticosteroid in Knee Osteoarthritis. A Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial".

Abstract

Health-care costs in the United States continue to grow, unabated, despite a variety of strategies to control costs. Sadly, despite the largest per-capita expenditure on health care among the member states of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United States lags far behind many other members of the OECD in quality and outcome measurements1. Caring for individuals with musculoskeletal conditions contributes to a substantial portion of our health-care expenses. A recent assessment of direct and indirect costs of musculoskeletal care estimated an annual cost of $213 billion and 5.73% of our gross domestic product, with an overall combined societal cost of $874 billion2. Our aging population, orthopaedic innovation, and discovery all contribute to these costs. Many of these innovations have led to dramatic improvement in the orthopaedic surgeon’s ability to deliver successful musculoskeletal care and an actual savings of health-care and societal costs. Appropriate utilization of new technology lowers overall costs by allowing our patients to continue to work and remain active and to prevent the development of comorbid conditions associated with inactivity. Unfortunately, some of our new discoveries, which were rapidly embraced and introduced into our armamentarium of patient care, were more expensive, but no more effective, than a prior treatment. If we as orthopaedic surgeons aspire to remain leaders in musculoskeletal health-care innovation and to have the necessary resources to care for our patients, we need to play a leading role in controlling costs. Identifying the clinical indications for …