Late last year, the General Accounting Office (GAO) provided Congress with an in-depth report about amputees’ access to rehabilitation services and ongoing healthcare. Based on four years’ worth of Medicare data, the study offers a sobering snapshot of where and how the US health system fails to uphold amputees’ long-range health.
The study identified every Medicare patient who experienced limb loss in 2016 and tracked their health outcomes through 2019. Overall, 50,202 Medicare patients experienced limb loss in 2016, or one of every 57 Medicare patients.
According to the GAO’s findings, Medicare patients who experienced limb loss between 2016 and 2019 were:
Less Healthy and Less Wealthy Than the Average Medicare Patient
Only Modestly Able to Access Post-Amputation Care
Prone to Adverse Outcomes Within 4 Years of Limb Loss
For a more detailed look at the GAO report on Medicare and Amputees, see “How Well Does Medicare Serve Amputees?“
