Morbidly Obese TKA Patients Require Lengthier Operative Procedure and Hospital Stay

Despite previous reports that morbidly obese patients are at greater risk of complications after TKA, surgeon and hospital reimbursement for these patients does not appear to differ from non-obese patients. We used 22 modifiers for 93 morbidly obese patients for whom Medicare was the primary insurer, and were only reimbursed for this modifier 3 times. The purpose of this study was to determine if the duration of the operative procedure, length of hospital stay, and discharge location differed between groups of morbidly obese and non-obese TKA patients in an effort to demonstrate increased demands placed on the healthcare system.