FORCE-TJR Tapped To Lead ‘Big Data' Learning Project For AcademyHealth's Electronic Data Methods Forum

FORCE-TJR (the first U.S. total joint replacement (TJR) registry to collect and use patient-reported outcome measures and provide risk-adjusted national norms to guide quality monitoring in TJR) has been named one of three national project awardees by AcademyHealth Electronic Data Methods (EDM) Forum.

This year’s awards are designed to stimulate creative strategies for using big health data in ways that will directly improve health care for patients and populations. FORCE-TJR was chosen by AcademyHealth to lead a year-long project that will bring together experts from leading surgical quality registries, along with patients, clinicians, and policymakers, to identify generalizable lessons and generate a toolkit of promising strategies to improve collection and use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in health care. Kaiser Permanente and University of Washington will partner with FORCE in the project.

FORCE-TJR brings experience in collecting comprehensive outcome measures from more than 30,000 diverse TJR patients in 22 states, including high and low volume hospitals in which 75% of surgeons are community-based. Similar to STS (cardiac surgery) and NSQIP (general surgery), FORCE-TJR measures outcomes and adverse events, risk adjusts for co-morbidities, and provides comprehensive, comparative data to improve TJR patient care, meet reporting requirements, compare performance to peer surgeons/institutions, and secure quality incentive payments.

The one-year project, “Collaborating to Promote the Collection and Use of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Clinical Care,” was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

About FORCE-TJR
FORCE-TJR – Function and Outcomes Research for Comparative Effectiveness in Total Joint Replacement began as a federally project through a $12M grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The research program has developed a national database of surgical results and patient-reported outcomes that includes over 30,000 TJR patients from diverse settings. The research, along with recorded patient assessments about the success and failure of their surgeries, will ultimately guide and improve clinical best practices, health care policy and the overall health and quality of life for millions of people suffering from arthritis. FORCE-TJR provides in-depth, comparative data to improve patient care, meet reporting requirements, and compare performance to peer surgeons and institutions. For more information, visit http://www.force-tjr.org/.

About the EDM Forum
The EDM Forum facilitates learning and collaboration among researchers and other key stakeholders who are generating the data, methods and evidence needed to build learning health systems that will improve patient care and outcomes. The EDM Forum was created through a cooperative agreement from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Grant #U13 HS19564-010. Ongoing support for the EDM Forum comes from AHRQ Grant #U18 HS022789-01.

About AcademyHealth
AcademyHealth is a leading national organization serving the fields of health services and policy research and the professionals who produce and use this important work. Together with our members, we offer programs and services that support the development and use of rigorous, relevant and timely evidence to increase the quality, accessibility, and value of health care, to reduce disparities, and to improve health. A trusted broker of information, AcademyHealth brings stakeholders together to address the current and future needs of an evolving health system, inform health policy, and translate evidence into action.