What will joint care cost me?

How much does PRP cost for the shot made from my blood?

There isn't one dependable Tempe price to quote for this care. PRP means platelet-rich plasma; plasma is your blood's liquid part, prepared with platelets for a joint shot. It may be the blood-based shot that your doctor mentioned.

Ask for the whole cost in writing before you agree. The quote needs the first visit, the shot, and any later checks. Ask whether another shot would bring a new charge, so the total won't surprise you.

Will my insurance help pay?

Insurance may help with office visits, medicine, or physical therapy. Your bill depends on what you must pay first and whether the clinic is on your plan's approved list. Ask the insurer to send its answer in writing.

Patients often pay the PRP bill themselves when it is used for joint soreness. Medicare generally doesn't pay for PRP used as joint care. Confirm the exact service with your insurer before treating a phone answer as final.

What belongs in a fair quote?

Start with every charge, not the first number a clinic gives you. Ask whether that number covers supplies, the treatment, and later visits. A low opening price doesn't help when other charges appear afterward.

Count the drive and time away from your usual day as well. Ask whether recovery will limit driving, cooking, or other home tasks. The useful total includes the money and time needed for all planned care.

Sources

1. A prospective cross-sectional study contacted 273 of 317 US direct-to-consumer stem-cell centres posing as a 57-year-old man with knee osteoarthritis. The mean advertised price of a unilateral same-day stem-cell knee injection was $5,156 (SD $2,446; 95% CI $4,550-5,762, n=65), and the mean claimed clinical efficacy was 82% (SD 9.6%, n=36) - a figure the authors describe as a gap between the published literature and marketing claims.

   Piuzzi NS, et al. — The Stem-Cell Market for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Patient Perspective.. J Knee Surg, 2018. DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1604443.

2. CMS covers autologous platelet-rich plasma ONLY for patients with chronic non-healing diabetic, pressure and/or venous wounds, and only when the patient is enrolled in an approved clinical research study under the coverage-with-evidence-development National Coverage Determination. There is no national Medicare coverage for PRP in osteoarthritis of any joint.

   Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — Autologous Platelet-rich Plasma (Coverage with Evidence Development). CMS Coverage with Evidence Development, 2014.

3. Federal district court orders announced 8 January 2025 permanently ban the co-founders of the Stem Cell Institute of America and several related companies from marketing stem cell therapy, and require payment of $5,155,146 in civil penalties and consumer refunds. On summary judgment in March 2024 the court found the defendants created and published false and misleading advertisements about the efficacy and approval of stem cell injection treatments for conditions including osteoarthritis and joint pain. The clinic charged up to $5,000 per injection and its customers were almost exclusively elderly and disabled people.

   Federal Trade Commission — Stem Cell Institute Co-Founders and Companies Banned from Marketing Stem Cell Treatments and Ordered to Pay More Than $5.1 Million for Refunds and Civil Penalties. FTC press release, 2025.

4. A BMJ network meta-analysis of 10 large trials in 3,803 patients found that compared with placebo the difference in pain intensity on a 10 cm visual analogue scale was -0.4 cm for glucosamine, -0.3 cm for chondroitin and -0.5 cm for the combination - none crossing the pre-specified minimal clinically important difference of -0.9 cm. Industry-independent trials showed smaller effects than commercially funded ones (P=0.02 for interaction).

   Wandel S, et al. — Effects of glucosamine, chondroitin, or placebo in patients with osteoarthritis of hip or knee: network meta-analysis.. BMJ, 2010. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.c4675.

5. A cross-sectional analysis of the top 50 results from Google, Bing and Yahoo for 'stem cells osteoarthritis' (82 websites) found mean readability at grade level 13.6 - far above the grade 6-8 recommended by the NIH - and mean DISCERN quality of 49.5/80, with physician-clinic websites scoring significantly lower than academic ones (38.1 vs 64.6, P<.001).

   Ng MK, et al. — Analysis of Readability, Quality, and Content of Online Information Available for "Stem Cell" Injections for Knee Osteoarthritis.. J Arthroplasty, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.arth.2019.10.013.

6. CDC estimated 58.5 million US adults (23.7%) reported arthritis in 2016-2018 and 25.7 million reported arthritis-attributable activity limitation - 43.9% of everyone with arthritis. Arthritis has been the most frequently reported main cause of disability among US adults for more than 15 years and was responsible for more than $300 billion in direct and indirect annual costs in 2013.

   Theis KA, et al. — Prevalence of Arthritis and Arthritis-Attributable Activity Limitation - United States, 2016-2018.. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep, 2021. DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7040a2.

7. Using the US National Inpatient Sample, projected primary total knee arthroplasty volumes are 1.92 million per year by 2030 and 3.42 million by 2040, and primary total hip arthroplasty 850,000 by 2030 and 1.43 million by 2040 - increases of 182% and 129% respectively over 2014 - which is the demand backdrop to any conversation about delaying or avoiding a replacement.

   Singh JA, et al. — Rates of Total Joint Replacement in the United States: Future Projections to 2020-2040 Using the National Inpatient Sample.. J Rheumatol, 2019. DOI: 10.3899/jrheum.170990.