Cost Estimates of Biologic Implants Among Orthopedic Surgeons

The use and development of biologic implants such as autogenous bone grafts and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) remain on the rise in orthopedic surgery. Apart from the differences in efficacies seen between the different methods, there is also a difference in the cost associated with each.

We generated a questionnaire inquiring about current use of osteobiologics and cost perceptions, and distributed it to 30 orthopedic surgeons. When answers were compared to operating room pricing data from each institution, surgeons grossly over and underestimated the costs associated with each of the osteobiologics in the questionnaire. More than 25% of those questioned did not know the cost of the osteobiologics they had used in the last 3 months. Furthermore, none of the participating institutions had a committee with physician participation concerning the use of these techniques.

As the use and cost of osteobiologics by orthopedic surgeons continues to increase, so should the importance of educating those surgeons on the financial outcomes so as to assuage extraneous and unnecessary economic ramifications.