AAOS Fracture & Trauma Registry Powered by PatientIQ Results in Increased Data Submission

Data collection and submission can be a cumbersome process for orthopaedic surgeons. In December 2022, AAOS announced an integration with PatientIQ, a third-party vendor, to streamline this process. The cloud-based platform integrates directly with the electronic health records (EHRs) of sites enrolled in the Fracture & Trauma Registry (FTR). This integration simplified the process of collecting and submitting registry data for five of the more common fractures in the United States: fractures of the ankle, distal femur, distal radius, hip, and proximal humerus.

Since the integration began, there has been a more than 30 percent increase in the data submitted to the FTR and 20 additional sites began submitting data. With this success, AAOS expanded the integration to the Shoulder & Elbow Registry (SER) in January to automate the collection of outcomes data.

“The fact that we have seen such a large increase in the data submitted to the Fracture & Trauma Registry is a testament to the success of the integration with PatientIQ,” said Grant E. Garrigues, MD, FAAOS, chair of the SER Steering Committee. “Through PatientIQ’s technology and the volume of data collected, we will be able to optimize patient outcomes and establish best practices, furthering the ability of AAOS to set national benchmarks.”

By easing the burden of use, the FTR and SER have the potential to become among the largest data-sharing networks used to analyze trends and gain crucial analytical insights for orthopaedic surgeons, establishing best practices and optimizing patient outcomes.

How it works
PatientIQ seamlessly integrates with FTR and SER participants’ EHRs, streamlining participation by automating data aggregation, data formation, and submission. Leveraging Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource-Based Application Programming Interfaces and live integration features, it extracts and translates vital health data into registry-compliant formats for orthopaedic surgeons. PatientIQ uses a library of more than 500 validated outcome measures and a proprietary analytics engine. This automation eliminates many of the administrative and technological burdens associated with submitting procedural, postoperative, and patient-reported outcomes data to clinical registries.

“As we have seen with the Fracture & Trauma Registry, PatientIQ automates much of the registry participation process that was time consuming and taxing for participants,” said FTR Steering Committee member Douglas W. Lundy, MD, MBA, FAAOS. “It was impressive how PatientIQ’s technology effortlessly integrated with our EHR and existing workflows, making it a lot easier to use and simplifying the entire process.”

AAOS launched the Registry Program more than 6 years ago, contributing to meaningful change in orthopaedics through the vast collection of data. The AAOS family of registries has grown to more than 4 million procedures over five orthopaedic registries. The mission of the Registry Program is to collect clinical data demonstrating real-world practice, thus enabling performance measurement, facilitating quality-improvement programs, and supporting scientific research.

Hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and institutions that treat fractures and orthopaedic trauma or shoulder- and elbow-related injuries can participate in the FTR and SER, respectively. To learn more about the registries’ integration with PatientIQ, visit aaos.org/registries/patientiq-faqs.

Molly Todd Rudy is a freelance writer for AAOS Now.