a procedureTotal hip replacement

also: total hip arthroplasty · THA · THR · hip arthroplasty

Surgeons say THA or THR. Package pages say total hip replacement. Where a page says direct anterior approach it is naming the way in, not a different joint.

The worn ball and socket of the hip are cut out and replaced: a stem driven into the femur carrying a metal or ceramic head, and a cup fixed into the pelvis with a bearing inside it. It is done for arthritis, for fracture, and for a collapsed femoral head. The operation is short, the ward stay on published packages runs three to five nights, and the implant is billed separately from the surgery on most package price lists.

How long it takes

The numbers behind this

	Days
In hospital	4.0
Before a flight	10
Back to ordinary use	84

Root. arthroplasty: Greek arthron, a joint, plus plastos, moulded. Hip is Old English hype, the same word for the bone and the flesh over it; the Latin acetabulum, the socket the surgeon reams, means a little vinegar cup.
Unilateral is one hip, bilateral is both in one anaesthetic, and a price page that omits the word is usually quoting one. Trade practice

The story Cited

Hip replacement travels for the same reasons knee replacement does: it is elective, standardised, expensive at home, and queued. Where the two differ is on the price page. In Bangkok on 16 September 2026 the hip package at Bumrungrad is 425,200 baht against 356,500 for a knee, and it names four nights against the knee's three — the hip costs more and keeps the patient longer at the same hospital, under the same exclusions.

Trade practice — the hip is also the joint most often sold with the approach named in the package title. Bangkok International Hospital prices a direct anterior approach hip at 420,000 baht for one side and 713,000 for two, implant excluded. The approach is a surgical argument, not a pricing category, and the literature on whether it changes the outcome at a year is not settled.

The same operation appears on three other kinds of page, and each counts something different. Practice Plus Group in England sells a hip replacement to a self-paying patient at £13,199, one number covering theatre, anaesthetic, the overnight stay, physiotherapy and post-operative appointments. Nordorthopaedics in Kaunas advertises hip replacement "from 4.560 € / 3.800 £" with no inclusion list on the page. Australia's Medicare Benefits Schedule sets item 49318, total arthroplasty of hip, at a schedule fee of $1,577.30 as at 1 July 2026 — which is the surgeon's fee alone, not the hospital, not the prosthesis, not the anaesthetist's own item.

Inference — four numbers, four objects. Only the first two are the sort of thing a patient pays in one transaction, and only the first of those admits in writing that the implant is extra.

How it works Trade practice

Spinal or epidural anaesthesia with sedation is usual. The surgeon reaches the joint from the back, the side or the front, dislocates it, cuts the femoral neck, reams the socket, seats the cup, broaches the femur, trials the components, reduces the new joint and closes. Standing happens the same day or the next. The NHS tells patients in England that a fit patient usually goes home one to three days after the operation, that stitches or clips come out at about ten days, and that the follow-up appointment falls six to twelve weeks out. Published packages abroad name three to five nights, which is longer, and a patient who flies has bought a hotel as well as a ward.

Today Cited

As of 16 September 2026, the hip prices on this site run from a Lithuanian clinic's advertised floor of 4,560 euro to £13,199 at an English self-pay hospital, with two Bangkok hospitals between them at 420,000 and 425,200 baht — both with the implant on the exclusion list. The Australian schedule fee of $1,577.30 sits in a different column because it buys a different thing: one doctor's service, with the bed and the prosthesis billed elsewhere.

Notes

This page describes an operation and the prices published for it. It is not advice about having one, or about where.

What it costs where anyone publishes a price

a provider's package pricea state tariff or what a payer refundsa list price, an estimate or an advertised rangelogarithmic scale, US$

6 published prices for this procedure, across 4 countries.

The 6 prices behind this chart

Dollar figures are the published price put through one dated rate table; the published currency and date are in the next columns.

Country	Kind	US$	As published	Dated	Source
Australia	tariff	1,124	1,577 AUD	2026-07-01	page
Lithuania	quoted-range	5,261	4,560 EUR	2026-09-16	page
Thailand	quoted-range	11,000	11,000–17,000 USD	2026-09-17	page
Thailand	package	12,615	420,000 THB	2026-09-16	page
Thailand	package	12,771	425,200 THB	2026-09-16	page
United Kingdom	list	17,788	13,199 GBP	2026-09-16	page

Every price this directory has read, for every procedure, sits together on the prices page.

Published prices Cited

Each is a number read off a page on the date named, in the currency the provider bills in. Dollars are that number through one dated rate table.

1,577 AUD ≈ US$1,124

tariff · Australia · Australia · for Total hip replacement

Includes.

the medical service described in item 49318: total arthroplasty of hip, including minor bone grafting if performed

Excludes.

hospital accommodation and theatre
the prosthesis
the anaesthetist's own items
any amount the surgeon charges above the schedule fee

Published price dated 2026-07-01 · dollars at the rate of Wed, 16 Sep 2026 · the page it was read from · Medicare Benefits Schedule item 49318, fee last updated 1 July 2026. The 75% benefit — what Medicare pays towards a private in-hospital service — is $1,183.00, and the remainder falls to an insurer or the patient. *Trade practice —* the bed, the theatre and the prosthesis are paid on other schedules entirely, which is why a schedule fee and a package price can never be compared straight across.

4,560 EUR ≈ US$5,261

quoted-range · Kaunas · Lithuania · for Total hip replacement

Published price dated 2026-09-16 · dollars at the rate of Wed, 16 Sep 2026 · the page it was read from · advertised as "from 4.560 € / 3.800 £"; the price page carries no inclusion or exclusion list at all. The same page heads the list with an offer to help patients claim a refund from their home health board under the EU cross-border care route.

420,000 THB ≈ US$12,615

package · Bangkok Hospital · for Total hip replacement

Includes.

operating room charges
recovery room charges
medical supplies
fees of the surgical and anaesthesia teams
standard room, nursing and meals for 4 nights
medications related to the surgery to take home

Excludes.

implants
medical clearance evaluation
specialist consultant fees
treatment of underlying conditions
laboratory tests
complications
ICU or extended stay charges

Published price dated 2026-09-16 · dollars at the rate of Wed, 16 Sep 2026 · the page it was read from · direct anterior approach total hip arthroplasty, one side, four nights, implant excluded; the two-sided package on the same page is 713,000 THB for five nights. Prices stated valid until 31 December 2026.

425,200 THB ≈ US$12,771

package · Bumrungrad International Hospital · for Total hip replacement

Includes.

operating theatre 2.5 hours, including nursing and surgical team fees within those hours
accommodation for 4 nights in the surgical ward
medical equipment and medical supplies
medications related to the procedure
surgeon
1 assistant surgeon if necessary
anaesthesiologist
physical therapy 7 sessions and occupational therapy 1 session

Excludes.

charges for implant
consultation fee for an initial visit and follow-up visits
inpatient stays beyond 4 nights, ICU, or stays past the approved discharge day
specialist consultations
outpatient fees before admission
complex or emergency cases
blood transfusion, laboratory tests and other diagnostic tests before and after operation
take-home medications and medical supplies
items of a personal nature

Published price dated 2026-09-16 · dollars at the rate of Wed, 16 Sep 2026 · the page it was read from · package JOINT08, price stated valid until 31 December 2026. The hip package runs 68,700 baht above the same hospital's knee package and adds a night. Exclusion nine on the hospital's own list reads: not include charges for implant.

13,199 GBP ≈ US$17,788

list · England · United Kingdom · for Total hip replacement

Includes.

pre-operative nurse review
prescriptions, dressings and equipment
anaesthetic
any overnight stay required
physiotherapy
pathology and histology needed whilst admitted
any post-operative appointments required
a named consultant from start to finish

Excludes.

the initial consultation, listed separately at £145, which the page says includes x-rays and blood tests

Published price dated 2026-09-16 · dollars at the rate of Wed, 16 Sep 2026 · the page it was read from · the group's published self-pay price for hip replacement; hip revision on the same list is £22,249 and hip resurfacing £13,999 at one hospital only. The implant is not named on either side of the list, which is a different silence from naming it as an exclusion.

1 more published prices for this procedure sit on other records — all of them together are on the prices page.

The particulars

family	orthopaedic
setting	inpatient
anaesthesia	regional
region	Everywhere
stay days	4
days before flying	10
recovery weeks	12
about those numbers	Four nights is the ward stay named in the Bumrungrad JOINT08 package; the NHS tells patients in England that a fit patient usually goes home one to three days after the operation, so the package night count is a commercial figure as much as a clinical one. The follow-up appointment at six to twelve weeks is the NHS figure. The ten days before flying is the CDC's guidance for chest or abdominal surgery, which orthopaedic teams commonly apply to major lower-limb surgery for the clot risk; no page read for this record names a figure for the hip itself. (2026-09-16) · source
links	Bumrungrad package JOINT08 · MBS item 49318
confidence	high · updated 2026-09-16

Not to be confused with

Total knee replacement — A broker's "joint replacement" quote names neither joint until asked; the hip package is dearer and the knee recovers more slowly.
Artificial disc replacement — Both are called replacements and both exclude the implant, but one is a limb joint and the other a spinal segment priced by the level.

What it connects to

a procedureTotal knee replacementThe same trade, the other joint — and the cheaper package at the same Bangkok hospital, by 68,700 baht.and of this page it says: The same trade, the other joint — and the one whose package price is usually higher.a hospitalBumrungrad International HospitalPublishes the four-night hip package this page reads, implant excluded.a hospitalBangkok HospitalPrices a direct anterior approach hip on its own page, implant excluded.a countryThailandWhere both package prices on this page are sold.a countryUnited KingdomWhere the self-pay price on this page is sold, and the queue most of its buyers are leaving.a countryLithuaniaWhere the advertised floor price on this page comes from, refund paperwork offered with it.a riskThe implant is excludedThe line the Bangkok packages put in writing and the English price list does not mention.and of this page it says: The same trade, the same exclusion, usually a higher package.a wordPackage priceThe pricing form this operation is sold in, and the reason its exclusions decide the bill.a wordTariffWhat the Australian schedule fee is, and why it is not a price a patient pays.and of this page it says: The operation whose schedule fee this record reads.a riskFlying after surgeryThe clot risk that sets how long after this operation a patient can board.a riskRevision at homeWho operates when the cup loosens, and who pays for it.a seriesOECD waiting times for elective surgeryThe series that counts the queue this operation is best known for.a ruleDirective 2011/24/EU on patients' rights in cross-border healthcareThe refund route the Lithuanian price page leads with.

Pages that point here

a country · on this pageCanada68% inside six months in 2024, and the better half of the same queue.a cluster · on this pageBangkokThe other joint on the same package pages.a cluster · on this pageVilniusThe operation the Baltic pitch leads with, sold against a waiting list.a procedure · on this pageTotal shoulder replacementThe joint that sells as a package everywhere this one does not.a risk · on this pageDeep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolismThe other joint, with the same prophylaxis question and the same flight home.a long one · on this pageIs it cheaperThe same arithmetic on the other joint, where the facilitator's advertised range nearly meets the English list price.a long one · on this pageThe queue is the productIts twin on every waiting list that publishes one.

Sources

Total Hip Replacement Surgery (Exclude implant) — package JOINT08 — Bumrungrad International Hospital · link (read 2026-09-16)
Hip & Knee Surgery Packages — Bangkok International Hospital (Bangkok Bone and Brain) · link (read 2026-09-16)
Hip surgery: costs and care plans — self-pay price list — Practice Plus Group · link (read 2026-09-16)
Orthopaedic Surgery Prices — Nordorthopaedics Clinic, Kaunas · link (read 2026-09-16)
MBS item 49318 — total arthroplasty of hip — Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing · link (read 2026-09-16)
Recovering from a hip replacement — NHS (England) · link (read 2026-09-16)
Medical Tourism — CDC Yellow Book: Health Information for International Travel — US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · link (read 2026-09-16)

Where it came from: Cited a source named here · Harvested pulled from an open dataset · Trade practice how the trade works, hedged · Inference this project's own reasoning · Field somebody stood there. This record as JSON.

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