Study: No Way to Predict Risk in Joint Replacements (Orthopedics This Week)
Despite testing three different risk adjustment indices, researchers have found that none of them were useful in predicting readmissions among osteoarthritis (OA) patients who underwent joint replacement. The study, which appears in the January 2017 edition of Arthritis Care & Research, was led by Amit Kumar, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research associate at the Brown University School of Public Health. It is entitled, "Current Risk Adjustment and Comorbidity Index Underperforms in Predicting Post-Acute Utilization and Hospital Readmissions after Joint Replacements: Implications for Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model."
One of the reasons for the study, as stated in the January 25, 2017 news release, is the new outcome based reimbursement environment. “To compel hospitals to do better, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) program in April 2016, which penalizes hospitals for readmission of joint replacement patients within 90 days.”
"In the absence of that risk adjustment, when sick patients have worse outcomes, hospitals...
