NATIONAL JOINT REGISTRY IMPLANT PRICE-BENCHMARKING FOR PRIMARY TOTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY: ARE WE ACCOUNTING FOR ALL VARIABLES IN BICONDYLAR ARTHROPLASTY?

Background: The National Joint Registry (NJR) monitors implant price and issues reports at a surgeon and unit level. Favourable pricing is usually related to volume of implantation. At surgeon-level, implant-type is the main factor determining implant-spend. The NJR groups knee arthroplasty into hinge/linked, patellofemoral, bicondylar and unicondylar. We investigated the use of implants within the bicondylar group hypothesising this was a clinically heterogeneous group that may account for pricing variation not identified by the NJR.