Are All Hardware Removals Equal?

The objective of this study is to report operative time and associated complications of six types of implants and to determine if surgeons are adequately compensated. Hardware removals were analyzed from 2014–2019. Implants were flexible nails, intramedullary rigid nails, long plates, screw(s), single guided-growth plates, and multiple guided-growth plates. Patient demographics, operative time, blood loss, complications, and relative value units (RVU)/min were collected. RVU/min was used to maximize rate. In total, 392 patients were analyzed. Long plate removals took significantly longer than screw removal, therefore RVU/min was significantly lower (p < 0.001). Long plate removals also took significantly longer, and RVU/min was significantly lower compared to guided-growth plate removal (p < 0.001). Intramedullary nails took significantly longer compared to flexible nails, nearly double the RVU/min (p = 0.02). The results from this study indicate that the RVU/ minute for these six diff erent types of implant removals are not equal. Surgeons can use this data to set up their schedule to ensure maximum utilization. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 30(1):020–023, 2021)

Key words: implant removal, operative time, relative value unit, productivity, value-based care