Hip replacements
make up the largest dollar volume within the Medicare
programme in the United States; however, the average
profitability of THR under Medicare has been zero
or even a loss for most hospitals (Bozic 2006). If
complications occur with many patients, a hospital’s
total cost is estimated to be in the millions. A hip
revision as a result of dislocation or infection at
the site of joint replacement results in an average loss
to the hospital of $5402 per patient (Crowe et al.
2003).