The American Joint Replacement Registry launched the Level III patient-reported outcome platform at the 2015 American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons annual meeting earlier this month.
Here are five key notes:
1. Participating hospitals can submit Level III PRO data. Patient-reported data is defined as any information on the outcomes of healthcare obtained directly from patients without clinical or healthcare professional modification.
2. The AJRR developed the PRO platform within the AJRR Demand Reporting & Electronic Dashboard system giving clinical staff access to patient data with the ability to manage PRO surveys electronically through a secure portal.
3. The system can pull site-specific patient reports and summary results for each PRO measure. Participating hospitals can submit and retrieve alternative measures as well, but there won't be national benchmarks for them.
4. There aren't extra costs for Level III data submission.
5. The national registry data can help institutions make informed decisions based on clinical facts and figures.
"PROs are becoming more and more important to healthcare as the federal government continues to emphasize their use with programs and quality initiatives," said Daniel J. Berry, MD, chair of the AJRR Board of Directors. "We want to ensure that our platform is relevant to practicing physicians, and that they are getting the most out of what we have to offer."