Researchers did not find an association between initiation of CMS mandatory bundled payment policies and decreased access to hip and knee replacements for Medicare patients, according to published results.

To evaluate changes in patient case mix from pre-policy to post-policy, Casey Jo Humbyrd, MD, and colleagues compared Medicare beneficiaries who received hip and knee replacement in bundled metropolitan statistical areas with patients who received hip and knee replacement in non-bundled metropolitan statistical areas from 2015 to 2016. Researchers collected information on race, dual eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid, tobacco use, obesity, presence of diabetes with or without complications, and Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) values among the groups.