WORCESTER, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A 4-year, $12 million national research project funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has surpassed its original goal, culminating in the establishment of the most comprehensive U.S. database on total hip and knee joint replacement patients and their surgical outcomes.
“Total hip and knee joint replacements are the most common inpatient surgical procedures performed in the U.S., and the greatest expense of the Medicare budget,” says FORCE-TJR steering committee member Joan A. McGowan, PhD, Director of the Division of Musculoskeletal Diseases at the NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. “The FORCE database is the first to allow independent assessment of total joint replacement effectiveness in terms of both implant performance and improvement in patient pain and physical function.”
The project and resulting database, called FORCE-TJR, is the first on total joint replacements (TJR) to identify risk-adjusted national benchmarks, including patient risk factors, and other clinical measures, to guide surgeon and patient decisions regarding timing of surgery and optimal patient selection. Research findings that will be presented at the upcoming American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons annual meeting (March 24-28) include: 