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The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) recently announced plans to create a national family of clinical data registries for a broad range of orthopaedic conditions and procedures. As part of this effort, the American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR) is now an AAOS registry.
“A central group of orthopaedic registries, providing standardized and consistent data, will allow us to optimally measure performance and value, create and recommend informed reimbursement and treatment standards,” AAOS President William J. Maloney, M.D., said in a statement. “[We will] develop education programs that address practice and treatment deficiencies, and most importantly, continually and collectively improve patient safety, treatment and outcomes.”
Nathan Glusenkamp will serve as the new AAOS Director of Orthopaedic Registries. Glusenkamp previously served as President of Provider Solutions at FIGmd, a health information technology vendor delivering data liquidity interfaces to medical societies and boards.
Outcomes data is integral to orthopaedics today, informing product development decisions by device companies, clinical decisions by surgeons and hospital analysis committees and reimbursement decisions by payors. Numerous organizations have developed registries, including the North American Spine Society, Orthopaedic Trauma Association and AdvaMed. As AAOS makes further announcements, it will be interesting to watch whether they overlap or integrate with other established registries.
AAOS was an original founder of AJRR. The national hip and knee joint replacement registry includes 970 participating U.S. hospitals and 40 ambulatory surgery centers, and has captured and analyzed data on more than 1 million procedures since its inception in 2010.
AJRR will serve as the hip and knee registries for AAOS and will retain the AJRR name. Additional AAOS registries will launch in mid- to late 2018 and over the next five years, covering a broad range of conditions and procedures.
Rob Meyer is ORTHOWORLD’s Senior Editor.
