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AJRR releases new data specifications for patient risk factors
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The American Joint Replacement Registry has released new data specifications, known as Level II, that allow for health care institutions to collect and report on patient risk factors, comorbidities and complications data.
Required or recommended by several federal and state quality initiatives, the addition of Level II completes the American Joint Replacement Registry’s (AJRR’s) dataset and gives registry participants risk-adjusted data they can use to determine survivorship curves, according to a press release.
“The ability to analyze patient risk factors is essential to the AJRR’s mission to improve orthopedic care,” Daniel J. Berry, MD, AJRR board of directors chair, said in the release. “Level II data introduces many variables that health care providers may consider when planning for surgery. Surgeons will be able to utilize this new data to better inform their decisions, and our ability to risk adjust will allow for their findings to not be misconstrued.”
The release also noted the new specifications include an expansion of Level I procedural data elements and modified Level III patient-reported outcomes data elements that provide a template for Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model from CMS.
“As orthopedics continues to stress the importance of quality, the AJRR continue to evolve to meet our participants’ needs,” Berry said in the release. “Initiatives and bundled payments are one of the many factors that influence the actions that health care providers engage in. Our registry platform provides an avenue for surgeons and other hospital staff to meet these programs’ requirements while also giving a deeper, more exact view of patient outcomes.”
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E. Anthony Rankin, MD
The American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR) for hip and knee replacement data has released new data specifications that allow health care institutions to collect and report on patient risk factors, comorbidities and complication data. This is known as Level 2 data and is a major step in addressing quality issues and concerns. As Daniel J. Berry, MD, AJRR board of directors’ chair is quoted in the news release, “The ability to analyze patient risk factors is essential to the AJRR’s mission to improve orthopedic care.”
Hospitals and surgeons have patients with varying degrees of risk factors and comorbidities. The addition of Level 2 data, that AJRR now has on its platform, will allow surgeons to have better informed decisions. This risk-adjusted data can be used by registry participants to determine survivorship curves. The availability of this data can also prevent findings from being misinterpreted. The fact that patient characteristics may vary from hospital to hospital and doctor to doctor may cause surgical outcomes to vary. Utilization of risk adjustment essentially levels the playing field across patients and hospitals.
The AJRR’s new specifications additionally include expanded Level 1 procedural data elements, as well as modified Level 3 patient-reported outcomes data that provide a template for the CMS Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model. In this way, AJRR is able to help with the patient-reported outcome and risk adjustment for the CJR model. Participation with AJRR by hospital and surgeon provides a way to meet program requirements of payers, both government and commercial, for quality initiatives and payment incentives.
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