Richard C. Mather III, MD

I served as a Washington Health Policy Fellow from 2010-2011, during my chief year of residency at Duke University and my sports medicine fellowship at Rush University.

My interests encompass the many issues surrounding the cost of U.S. healthcare. I’m interested in defining and investigating value in orthopaedic surgery and discovering ways to deliver more efficient care, including alternative delivery and payment models. I have particular interest in cost effectiveness analysis, both in investigating current interventions as well as improving the quality of orthopaedic cost effectiveness analyses to increase their potential to guide policy.

For my WHPF project, I pursued two initiatives. First, I undertook an effort to investigate the effects on quality of care of ancillary service ownership by orthopaedic surgeons. In particular, along with Dr. Kevin Bozic, we developed a patient-perceived quality survey comparing ambulatory surgery centers with other facilities. These entities have been criticized for overutilization, but do provide convenience to patients and decrease the cost of care. Second, I continued my work in cost effectiveness analysis. While I had spent much effort in creating health policy, I had little experience in the implementation of it. However, my experience as a WHPF certainly provided this. I made several trips to Washington D.C. and Capitol Hill, which provided great education on the advocacy and implementation of health policy. Not only have I now become an active and competent political advocate for orthopaedic surgeons, this experience will undoubtedly serve me in my continued policy research.

Recent Publications:

Gaskill TR, Cook C, Nunley JA, Mather RC. The Financial Impact of Orthopaedic Fellowship Training. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Am. 91: 1814-1821, 2009.

Mather RC, Watters T, Orlando LA, Bolognesi MP, Moorman CT. Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Hemiarthroplasty and Total Shoulder Arthroplasty. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery. (3): 325-334. 2010.

Mather RC, Orlando L, Henderson RA, Lawrence JT, Taylor D. A Predictive Model of Shoulder Instability after a First-Time Anterior Shoulder Dislocation. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery. (2):259-66

Watters T, Mather RC, Browne J, Berend K, Lombardi A, Bolognesi MP.  Analysis of Procedure-related Costs and the Proposed Benefits of using the Patient-specific Approach in Total Knee Arthroplasty.  Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances.  2011 Summer;20(2)

Mather RC, Wysocki R, Aldridge M, Pietrobon R, Nunley JA. Effect of Facility on the Operative Costs of Distal Radius Fractures. Journal of Hand Surgery Am. (accepted for publication)