Important news if your facility hosts orthopedic cases: You may no longer bill Medicare for arthroscopic debridement and lavages if those procedures are performed alone for patients with severe osteoarthritis. Medicare's decision was hardly unexpected, given the much-publicized July 2002 New England Journal of Medicine study concluding that debridements and washouts were ineffective for severe osteoarthritis patients who didn't also have mechanical knee problems. Here's what the coverage ruling means to you.