Development of Diagnostic Quality Metrics for Prosthetic Joint Infection.

Although well-accepted clinical practice guidelines exist for the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection (PJI), little is known about the quality of diagnosis for PJI. The identification of quality gaps in the diagnosis of PJI would facilitate the development of care structures and processes to shorten time to diagnosis and reduce the significant morbidity, mortality, and economic burden associated with this condition. Hence, we sought to develop valid clinical quality measures to improve the timeliness and accuracy of PJI diagnosis.

Quality Indicators for Osteoporosis in Adults: A Review of Performance Measures by the American College of Physicians.

Primary osteoporosis is characterized by decreasing bone mass and density and reduced bone strength that leads to a higher risk for fracture, especially hip and spine fractures. The prevalence of osteoporosis in the United States is estimated at 12.6% for adults older than 50 years.

Defining Patient-relevant Thresholds and Change Scores for the HOOS JR and KOOS JR Anchored on the Patient-acceptable Symptom State Question.

Background: When evaluating the results of clinical research studies, readers need to know that patients perceive effect sizes, not p values. Knowing the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) and the patient-acceptable symptom state (PASS) threshold for patient-reported outcome measures helps us to ascertain whether our interventions result in improvements that are large enough for patients to care about, and whether our treatments alleviate patient symptoms sufficiently. Prior studies have developed the MCID and PASS threshold for the Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score for Joint Replacement (HOOS JR) and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score for Joint Replacement (KOOS JR) anchored on satisfaction with surgery, but to our knowledge, neither the MCID nor the PASS thresholds for these instruments anchored on a single-item PASS question have been described.

Population-Based Applications and Analytics Using Patient-Reported Outcome Measures.

The intersection of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) has resulted in advances in numerous areas, including machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing. Although there are many potentially transformative applications of AI in health care, including precision medicine, this industry has been slow to adopt these technologies. At the same time, the operations of health care have historically been system-directed and physician-directed rather than patient-centered.

Machine Learning on Medicare Claims Poorly Predicts the Individual Risk of 30-Day Unplanned Readmission After Total Joint Arthroplasty, Yet Uncovers Interesting Population-level Associations With Annual Procedure Volumes.

Background: Unplanned hospital readmissions after total joint arthroplasty (TJA) represent potentially serious adverse events and remain a critical measure of hospital quality. Predicting the risk of readmission after TJA may provide patients and clinicians with valuable information for preoperative decision-making.

Questions/purposes: (1) Can nonlinear machine-learning models integrating preoperatively available patient, surgeon, hospital, and county-level information predict 30-day unplanned hospital readmissions in a large cohort of nationwide Medicare beneficiaries undergoing TJA? (2) Which predictors are the most important in predicting 30-day unplanned hospital readmissions? (3) What specific information regarding population-level associations can we obtain from interpreting partial dependency plots (plots describing, given our modeling choice, the potentially nonlinear shape of associations between predictors and readmissions) of the most important predictors of 30-day readmission?

Methods: National Medicare claims data (chosen because this database represents a large proportion of patients undergoing TJA annually) were analyzed for patients undergoing inpatient TJA between October 2016 and September 2018.

Defining a successful total knee arthroplasty: a systematic review of metrics of clinically important changes.

Background: Despite the increasing use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), the methodology used to evaluate clinically significant postoperative outcomes after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is variable. The review aimed to survey studies with identified PROM-based metrics of clinical efficacy and the assessment procedures after TKA.

Methods: The MEDLINE database was queried from 2008-2020.

Performance Measures for Physicians Providing Clinical Care Using Telemedicine: A Position Paper From the American College of Physicians.

There has been an exponential growth in the use of telemedicine services to provide clinical care, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical care delivered via telemedicine has become a major and accepted method of health care delivery for many patients. There is an urgent need to understand quality of care in the telemedicine environment.

Eliciting Activity Goals With a Self-Administered Survey Among Patients With Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis.

Success of treatment for hip or knee osteoarthritis (OA) should be evaluated relative to patients' personal activity goals. : We sought to ascertain important principles for collecting such goals and developed a survey informed by those principles to facilitate better shared decision-making. : From a series of 100 patient interviews inquiring about specific activity goals, we identified 6 principles for goal collection that are important to patients and physicians and could practically facilitate better shared decision-making (phase 1).

Metrics of Clinically Important Changes in Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review.

Background: Although patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) have become a regularly used metric, there is little consensus on the methodology used to determine clinically relevant postoperative outcomes. We systematically reviewed the literature for studies that have identified metrics of clinical efficacy after total hip arthroplasty (THA) including minimal clinically important difference (MCID), patient acceptable symptom state (PASS), minimal detectable change (MDC), and substantial clinical benefit (SCB).

Methods: A systematic review examining quantitative metrics for assessing clinical improvement with PROMs following THA was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines using the MEDLINE database from 2008 to 2020.

Defining the Patient Acceptable Symptom State for the HOOS JR and KOOS JR After Primary Total Joint Arthroplasty.

Background: It is essential to quantify an acceptable outcome after total joint arthroplasty (TJA) in order to understand quality of care. The purpose of this study was to define patient acceptable symptom state (PASS) thresholds for the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, Joint Replacement (KOOS JR) and the Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, Joint Replacement (HOOS JR) after TJA.

Methods: A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, leveraging 2-year satisfaction of "moderate improvement" or better as the anchor, was used to establish PASS thresholds among 5,216 patients who underwent primary total hip arthroplasty and 4,036 who underwent primary total knee arthroplasty from 2007 to 2012 with use of an institutional registry.

Patient and Surgeon Risk-Taking Regarding Total Joint Arthroplasty.

Background: Decisions regarding care for osteoarthritis involve physicians helping patients understand likely benefits and harms of treatment. Little work has directly compared patient and surgeon risk-taking attitudes, which may help inform strategies for shared decision-making and improve patient satisfaction.

Methods: We surveyed patients contemplating total joint arthroplasty visiting a high-volume specialty hospital regarding general questions about risk-taking, as well as willingness to undergo surgery under hypothetical likelihoods of moderate improvement and complications.

Presenteeism and absenteeism before and after single-level lumbar spine surgery.

Background Context: Health can impact work performance through absenteeism, time spent away from work, and presenteeism, inhibited at-work performance. Low back pain is common and costly, both in terms of direct medical expenditures and indirect reduced work performance.

Purpose: Surgery for lumbar spinal pathology is an important part of treatment for patients who do not respond to nonsurgical management.

Presenteeism and Absenteeism Before and After Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty.

Background: Absenteeism is costly, yet evidence suggests that presenteeism-illness-related reduced productivity at work-is costlier. We quantified employed patients' presenteeism and absenteeism before and after total joint arthroplasty (TJA).

Methods: We measured presenteeism (0-100 scale, 100 full performance) and absenteeism using the World Health Organization's Health and Work Performance Questionnaire before and after TJA among a convenience sample of employed patients.

When Stars Do Not Align: Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings and the Volume-Outcome Association.

Background: Volume-outcome relationships are well established for coronary artery bypass grafting and total joint arthroplasty surgery. Although the U.S.

Can Machine Learning Algorithms Predict Which Patients Will Achieve Minimally Clinically Important Differences From Total Joint Arthroplasty?

Background: Identifying patients at risk of not achieving meaningful gains in long-term postsurgical patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) is important for improving patient monitoring and facilitating presurgical decision support. Machine learning may help automatically select and weigh many predictors to create models that maximize predictive power. However, these techniques are underused among studies of total joint arthroplasty (TJA) patients, particularly those exploring changes in postsurgical PROMs.

What Are the Minimal and Substantial Improvements in the HOOS and KOOS and JR Versions After Total Joint Replacement?

Background: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are a gold standard for measuring therapeutic outcomes in research. Extending their use to inform clinical care decisions, determine the appropriateness of therapeutic choices, and assess healthcare quality is attractive but will require our professional community to establish valid estimates of minimal and substantial clinical improvements.

Questions/purposes: The purposes of this study were (1) to assess the validity of estimates for the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) calculated using distribution- and anchor-based methods by determining whether they exceed the minimal detectable change (MDC) for the Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS) and the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) domains, the HOOS, joint replacement (JR) and the KOOS, JR among patients who underwent THA or TKA; (2) to determine substantial clinical benefit thresholds for the HOOS and KOOS domains, the HOOS, JR, and the KOOS, JR among patients who underwent THA or TKA; and (3) to assess the proportions of patients who underwent THA or TKA who achieved an MCID for the HOOS and KOOS domains, HOOS, JR, and KOOS, JR based on distribution-based and anchor-based methods as well as the percentages of patients who achieved substantial clinical benefit using the anchor-based method.

Discharge to Inpatient Facilities After Total Hip Arthroplasty Is Associated With Increased Postdischarge Morbidity.

Background: Discharge disposition accounts for significant variability in costs after elective total hip arthroplasty (THA). Therefore, institutions must evaluate the short-term clinical outcomes associated with postdischarge care options. The present study intends to characterize the associations between short-term morbidity after primary THA and discharge destination.

Continued Inpatient Care After Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty Increases 30-Day Post-Discharge Complications: A Propensity Score-Adjusted Analysis.

Background: Discharge destination, either home or skilled care facility, after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) may be associated with significant variation in postacute care outcomes. The purpose of this study was to characterize the 30-day postdischarge outcomes after primary TKA relative to discharge destination.

Methods: All primary unilateral TKAs performed for osteoarthritis from 2011-2014 were identified in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database.