The Value of Virtual Planning in Shoulder Replacement
In This Video
- Jon Warner, MD, is chief of the Shoulder Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, co-director of the Harvard Shoulder and Elbow Fellowship and professor of orthopaedic surgery at Harvard Medical School
- In this video, he discusses how virtual planning for surgery allows for a reduction in costs and improves outcomes such as physical and mental health
In this video, Jon Warner, MD, chief of the Shoulder Service at Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses how the value of patient care is the outcome divided by the cost of care. He explains how virtual planning for surgery allows for a reduction in costs and improves outcomes such as physical and mental health. By affecting the numerator and denominator of patient care, surgeons can improve the reliability of their work and reassure patients with evidence of success.
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Transcript
One of the most exciting things that I'm doing is trying to deliver all the care I do in the context of value. Value is the outcome divided by the cost of that care. Health care right now is unsustainable in terms of its growth and cost. A great deal of success of an operation, just like an airplane pilot flying a plane, or a golfer playing a golf game, comes from preparation. Preparation has changed over time. We used to simply look at X-rays and a CAT scan, maybe an MRI, and decide what would work, but now we can do virtual planning for surgery, where we actually take the CAT scan images and build a three dimensional model, and do the surgery on the model. Therefore, all the trial and error steps that we do, we don't have to do in the operating room. Ultimately, it allows us to do a more precise job in the patient, and do it in a much faster way.
Because we have a commitment to improve the quality of life of patients, one patient at a time, we measure everybody's outcome. We don't just measure their outcome, we measure the process of their recovery. The wonderful thing about joint replacement, especially shoulder replacement, is it restores not just a sense of happiness, but it improves depression and it also improves on our anxiety levels. When we measure, we improve the reliability of what we do, and each patient who subsequently comes can be reassured that we can present them with clear evidence as to the success of the surgery they're going to have and the risks associated with it. By measuring outcomes, and by innovating in technology, I think I can affect both the numerator and the denominator, which will most certainly benefit each patient.
Learn about the Shoulder Service at Mass General
Refer a patient to the Shoulder Service at Mass General