Arthroscopy Patients in Medicare Population Became Sicker While Reimbursement Decreased From 2013 to 2020

To assess surgeon reimbursement for common arthroscopic procedures, including arthroscopic meniscal debridement and arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, in patients with differing risk profiles within the Medicare population. A publicly available Medicare database was used to identify all cases of arthroscopic meniscal debridement and arthroscopic rotator cuff repair procedures billed to Medicare from 2013 to 2020. The surgeon reimbursement from Medicare was collected and adjusted for inflation. All procedure episodes were split into 2 cohorts; those with a hierarchical condition category (HCC) risk score ≥1.5, and those with patient HCC risk scores