It Is All About Value Now: The Data You Need to Collect and How to Do It AOA Critical Issues

Health care has entered an era where value and quality have become more important than just quantity. Patient-reported outcomes are a critical aspect of the value equation. Orthopaedic surgeons will need to demonstrate that their treatment regimens actually are enhancing their patients’ quality of life. In order to do this, the collection of prospective patient-reported outcome data will be critical. For most patients, this will require the use of a general health survey and a disease-specific questionnaire. Currently, most orthopaedic surgeons are not collecting this type of data. The questions are: What types of patient-generated questionnaires can provide the information needed, and how can these data be collected in a cost-effective manner? We will discuss what value means to payers and what the outcome measures are that are selected by various orthopaedic subspecialty societies to evaluate patients who undergo total hip and knee arthroplasty as well as patients with shoulder and knee problems, and we will review potential strategies to collect prospective patient-outcome data in a cost-effective manner in the office.