The American Joint Replacement Registry, the American Orthopaedic Association and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons announced a new collaboration to align their reporting and quality initiatives through the American Joint Replacement Registry’s Orthopaedic Quality Resource Center.
According to a press release from American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR), the resource center was approved again as a qualified clinical data registry (QCDR) for the CMS Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) for 2016. As part of the collaboration, the AJRR, the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) will work together to offer the AJRR Orthopaedic Quality Resource Center to eligible professionals and group practices interested in submitting PQRS measures.
The collaboration will result in additional measures to be included in the AJRR Orthopaedic Quality Center platform this year, including two post-fracture PQRS measurements and four custom measures regarding process and outcomes for hip arthroplasty patients. The addition of these measures will bring the total of PQRS and custom measures the AJRR QCDR approved for 2016 to 38, according to the release. 
“We have long been aware of the importance of collaboration with CMS in building upon our success as a hip and knee registry, and are delighted that our QCDR is being supported by other like-minded orthopedic societies actively promoting quality reporting,” Daniel J. Berry, MD, chair of the AJRR board of directors, said in the release. “We are pleased to provide a resource for orthopedic surgeons to send data to our approved qualified clinical data registry in order to seek CMS incentive payments and try to avoid penalties.”
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