cost of osteotomy hardware removal in the U.S.?

[guam]

Does anyone have a roundabout figure of how much it costs in the U.S. to remove hardware after HTO?  If I remember right, the OR fee alone for the HTO was about $12,000-$15,000, but the removal should take much less time and hopefully, be an outpatient procedure.

[mmrocker13]

My billed cost of my DFO was about 35k total.

Removal was around 10k.

This is off the top of my head, and I could be on the low end by a couple grand.

[guam]

$35K is the ballpark figure of my HTO when you include the 2 night hospital stay.   I'm hoping the removal is about the same as yours.  My deductible is high enough as it is, but after that my insurance is pretty good about paying 80% of the rest.  Thanks for the info.

[mmrocker13]

I will say I had a one-night stay for the DFO, but the removal was out patient.

[guam]

I remember thinking how nice it was of the nurse to offer me a sandwich and drink at 2am...that is, unitl i saw they charged me $40 for that sandwich and drink.  haha!

[mmrocker13]

I remember thinking how nice it was of the nurse to offer me a sandwich and drink at 2am...that is, unitl i saw they charged me $40 for that sandwich and drink.  haha!

Ha! I remember having a BLINDING headache related to nothing at all in the middle of the night. I rang for the nurse to hand me my backpack so I could grab a tylenol. Ha! NO. They had to get into the dispensary to get me an "approved" Tylenol. It took two hours, and in the end, cost like $40. FOR TYLENOL. THAT I HAD IN MY BACKPACK. Should have told her I needed a tampon or something. :p

[smartdriver]

The amount the hospital billed to my insurance company was in the $20-25K range for my HTO hardware removal and that was for outpatient - I was in the hospital about 5 hours - then they kicked me out because the outpatient part was closing at 5PM and they didn't want me staying any longer because then they would have to "admit" me and transfer me to a regular hospital room.  I was so dizzy when I left I couldn't even hardly stand up on crutches, but they sent me out anyway.

And, after all that, having the hardware taken out didn't provide any benefit at all - I still have a lot of discomfort and pain as if the hardware was still there.