Dr Robert Rozbruch (New York City, New York)

Surprised there wasn't a thread on Dr. Rozbruch here.. I just had a consultation with him today and will share any and all info I've learned.

Cost

Dr. Rozbruch said he estimated a total cost for PRECICE lengthening of about $120,000.  About $80,000 in hospital fees, and $40,000 in his fees.  This estimate only includes the surgery, and visits afterwards with Dr. Rozbruch.  As far as removal costs go, he said it is about $7,000 in total.  Should any complications arise (such as nail bending, breaking) he would most likely cover the nail replacement and his surgery fees but NOT the hospital costs (which could run around $80,000). * updated on request

Recovery

Recovery from distracting 6.5 cm with PRECICE will consist of you being in a wheelchair for 5 months- minimum.  Weight-bearing should not be attempted with the PRECICE nail in the early stages.

Consultation

A consultation with Dr. Rozbruch costs $350 EXCLUDING X-rays.  If you want to get x-rays done on the same floor of his facility, you will have to pay $615 for the X-rays if your insurance does not cover it.  I ended up spending over $1000 today as a result (including the blasted parking ticket I got...)  His consultation is good and standard- the only thing I didn't like too much was that because it was an office, I didn't have a lot of opportunity to ask other patients about their experiences with him.

Miscellaneous

If you are still interested after the pricing, you are required to have a psychological evaluation and clearance before being accepted into the program. You would need to make an appointment and see Dr. Ellen Katz Westrich, Tel: 212-946-1739

Contact info

S. Robert Rozbruch, MD
Chief, Limb Lengthening and Complex Reconstruction Service (LLCRS)
Hospital for Special Surgery
Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery
Weill Medical College, Cornell University
Office Location: 519 East 72nd Street, Suite 204
Mailing address: 535 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021
tel: 212-606-1415   fax: 212-774-2744
email: [email protected]
www.LimbLengthening.com ; www.hss.edu/limblengthening

Quote from: BilateralDamage on November 26, 2013, 07:59:14 PMRecovery from distracting 6.5 cm with PRECICE will consist of you being in a wheelchair for 5 months- minimum.  Weight-bearing should not be attempted with the PRECICE nail in the early stages.

I think you misunderstood Dr. Rozbruch. Especially when talking about lengthening the femurs. I also consulted with him and he did not tell me these same timeframes. Lengthening 6.5cm only takes about 70 days for the femur. After lengthening is complete most patients are walking with or without the aid of crutches or a walker within 30-45 days. That's only 100-115 days which is far less than 5 months.

Lengthening the tibias of course takes longer because you only lengthen 0.75mm per day instead of 1mm per day like you do for the femurs so that may push things closer to 5 months if you do the full 6.5cm on the tibias.

This will all change now with the Precice 2 because you can weight bear 150lbs and walk with crutches while lengthening. That information I got from Dr. Paley because when I consulted with Dr. Rozbruch he was still using the Precice 1.

$80,000 to the hospital???
Is it for just 4-5 days after surgery or all through the lengthening procedure?

And what does "he would most likely cover complications" mean? Is going to for sure? What's the catch?
Thanks

Handy,

This is the exact time frame he told me for lengthening with the PRECICE 6.5 cm on the femurs.  2 months lengthening, 3 months consolidation.  It's not recommended you weight-bear during the consolidation phase since there's a strong likelihood of breaking or bending the nail (which can only hold up 30 lbs per leg) or snapping your bone.  Obviously this is all circumstantial and depends on how strong your consolidation is.  He was being conservative- but for a good reason.  Dr. Rozbruch does not offer the PRECICE 2 yet and said he will probably receive it in a few months.  But who wants to risk weight-bearing on something that can only hold 75 lbs per leg?  You'll be carrying a weight scale with you and measuring your footsteps?

short_and_depressed,

Yes, US hospitals suck.  Look at how much I had to pay for 1 freaking x-ray!  It's even an additional charge if I wanted a copy of my own x-ray I had done  .  For this reason, Dr. Rozbruch allowed me to take a picture of the X-ray using my phone in his office. 

This cost is only for the brief minimal stay you have in the hospital after surgery (maybe 2 nights?)

Yeah you can tell I worded that very carefully.  Basically, the way he told me it was this: he's never had a complication of a PRECICE nail breaking and having to replace it.  But if that were to happen, then he would most likely "uphold the contract"; meaning he would cover the costs of the nail and his surgery fees.  But he didn't give a clear answer on that because he was disregarding the costs of the hospital, which could be comparable to the original $80,000.  On that note, I'm going to ask an admin to edit my original post- there's no way he would cover the entire replacement surgery.  If you damage your nail, you could easily be looking at a figure of the original $80,000, which could also explain why Dr. Rozbruch is so conservative when it comes to weightbearing.

Used him for rod removal.

While well within his outline protocol my left femur snapped in half. Had originally seemed very competent, professional and attentive but this was a severe oversight resulting in lots of suffering, expenses, and time lost.

I have one question. Should the rods be removed within a year? Have been reading about this, it is recommended a year after the surgery. Just curious.

Nail removal is $5000 per nail so $10,000 in total - plus hospital fees if your insurance doesn't cover it.

That's a lot of money..

Seems good but damn expensive!

The hospital is expensive.