LOS ANGELES—Warranties have been around for decades for many goods, but in the healthcare field, the idea is relatively new.
The goal for healthcare warranties is that if there are complications, the provider, such as a hospital, will absorb the costs of follow up care, and in theory, make their procedures safer.
“When you share risk in anything, it helps bring up the quality even higher, so it’s a good thing, as long as the risk is managed well,” said Gabrielle White, who oversees bundled payments, including medical warranties, at Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine, California.
Hoag is one of the few places that offers medical warranties in California. Right now warranties are only available for a few procedures, and at Hoag, only for knee and hip replacements.
The warranty is good for 90 days. It comes with a “bundled” payment plan that combines all the various fees for a procedure into one upfront price, and if there are complications after the surgery, it covers those too. The Institute says this saves people money.
“In reality, it doesn’t cost any more,” said White. “It actually will cost less, if [someone] did have a complication that we were a part of.”
