Vlada Research

What American healthcare actually costs. Measured.

Research built from the connected public record. Every figure derives from public filings; where a figure cannot be measured, it is not claimed.

Measured

Every number comes from the public record, not an estimate.

Sourced

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Reproducible

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Latest reportNo. 01
Implantable devices · 3,662 hospitals · measured from public filings

Hospitals do not cover their cost on joint replacement

The hardware in a knee replacement costs a hospital $7,017, around 60% of what Medicare pays for the whole operation. On a fully-allocated basis the median hospital does not clear its cost, and hospitals differ by 2.6× in what they pay for implantable devices.

August 3, 2026 · Ben TennerRead the report →
The measured finding
$7,017
Hardware in a total knee
median of 657 hospitals
p10 $4,071 · p90 $19,323
measured from public filings

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