AJRR 2020 Annual Report Data shows continuity of hip and knee arthroplasty trends

Nov. 9, 2020

The American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR), the cornerstone of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Registry Program, released its 2020 Annual Report on hip and knee arthroplasty patient outcomes.

The Annual Report, released in conjunction with the first day of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons’ (AAHKS) 2020 Annual Meeting, includes findings from 1,897,050 hip and knee arthroplasty procedures performed between 2012 and 2019, representing an overall cumulative procedural volume growth of 24.4 percent compared to the previous year.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented times in the United States and the world––yet the AJRR and the development of the AAOS family of registries continue to see unparalleled growth and expansion,” said Bryan D. Springer, MD, FAAOS, chair of the AJRR Steering Committee. “This success is a tribute to the nation’s understanding of the fundamental importance of national registries, but also to the value that our registry brings to surgeons, hospitals and other stakeholders every day. Our procedural growth (over two million and counting) is rivaled by continued growth of data reuse opportunities for participation in multiple public and private value-based care incentive programs. I look forward to continued expansion and growth of all these opportunities.”

The Annual Report marks the seventh annual report from the AJRR. With the collection and reporting of this data, the report aims to provide valuable information to orthopaedic surgeons, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, device manufacturers, payers, and most importantly patients. The 2019 data paved the way for the AJRR to exceed two million procedures as of June 26, 2020, providing even more actionable data to improve patient care and outcomes.

James A. Browne, MD, FAAOS, chair of the AJRR Publications Subcommittee and editor of AJRR Publications added: “As the definitive chronicle of joint replacement in the United States, this year's AJRR Annual Report continues to build on previous work and demonstrates the incredible value of the AJRR. More sophisticated and detailed survivorship curves have been included this year, including device-specific cumulative revision curves. The breadth of data reporting has also been expanded, and now includes analyses of topics such as type of anesthesia, discharge disposition, and body mass index.”

Other highlights from the Annual Report showcase new or enhanced Registry capabilities and offerings including:

·        Cumulative incidence of revision curves was used to examine survivorship.

·         Component specific statistical summaries have been added to this year’s report, displaying common components utilized in hip and knee arthroplasties as well as device-specific cumulative percent revision curves as presented in the 2019 AJRR Annual Report Supplement.

·         Additional opportunities for sites to track performance measurements and use Registry data in national quality improvement (QI) programs.

·         A 13 percent increase in patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), compared to the previous year, through continued support of the RegistryInsights PROM platform and partnerships with third party vendors with the expanded Authorized Vendor Program.

·         Peer-reviewed publications and presentations based on AJRR Registry data.

This year represents the third year completing survivorship curves of revision over time and utilizing CMS data. Much time was spent determining a multi-stakeholder consensus-driven methodology. This created a foundation for the Report and allows for more sophisticated and detailed survivorship curves in the future.

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has the release.