The Opioid Epidemic and Orthopaedics: Where Do We Stand?

Terry Stanton

Even as the number of prescriptions for opioid pain medication declines from its peak of about 250 million in 2013, the epidemic of opioid use continues to devastate lives. Some 2 million individuals are afflicted with substance use disorders involving opioids, with approximately 500,000 of them addicted to heroin.

Study: Costs of Certain Orthopaedic Procedures Lower at an ASC

According to research recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS), direct costs for select orthopaedic procedures were significantly less when these procedures were performed at an ambulatory surgical center (ASC) rather than at a university-based children's hospital (UH).

Wrong-Side Procedure in the Modern Era

Robert J. MacArthur, MD

Bob MacArthur reached out to me with a compelling story of medical error. People often wonder how a wrong-side procedure can occur in the era of Universal Protocol and two decades of "operate through your initials"/"sign your site." This story will demonstrate how. It's a real lesson in the importance of a culture of safety. Bob and I hope that you will learn from this experience. On Feb.

New Appropriate Use Criteria Cover Carpal Tunnel, SMOAK

Terry Stanton

The Academy Board of Directors in December approved release of two new sets of Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC), covering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) and Surgical Management of Osteoarthritis of the Knee (SMOAK). As with previously issued AUC, these new app-based resources (www.aaos.org/auc) provide clinicians with an algorithm-style tool for choosing management pathways for patients with these conditions.

Chondrosarcoma: A Black Box Turns Grey

Sharon Johnson

Chondrosarcoma (CHS) remains a devastating primary malignancy of the musculoskeletal system—a black box for clinicians. Locally aggressive and unresponsive to current chemotherapy and radiation therapies, CHS is usually treated with wide surgical excision. Even then, patients often experience local recurrence, metastasis to the lungs, and death.

Collecting and Using Patient-Reported Outcomes in Everyday Practice

Joseph P. DeAngelis, MD, MBA; Neha Agrawal, MPH

Current trends in the healthcare landscape are shifting toward more robust, quantitative measurements of patient outcomes and provider performance. Hoping to optimize patient-reported outcomes (PROs), standardize care, and reduce costs, many healthcare providers have led the way in the collection of PROs data. Their experiences in implementing these processes and using the data provide lessons for others. In this, the first of a two-part series, Charles A.

Orthopaedic Opportunities and Hospital Value-Based Payments

Kent Jason Lowry, MD; Peggy L. Naas, MD, MBA

With the shift in health care from volume to value, orthopaedic surgeons have opportunities to improve patient care and leverage aligned financial incentives among providers. The care that orthopaedic surgeons provide directly affects how Medicare payments are allocated to hospitals. It is important, therefore, to understand how hospitals are incentivized.

AJRR Expands TJA Data Collection

Each year, the American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR) releases its Annual Report on Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Data at the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) Annual Meeting. The AJRR published and distributed its 2016 report on Friday, Nov. 11, at the AAHKS meeting in Dallas. The AJRR has seen significant growth in the past year, making the report the most comprehensive representation of data from an American orthopaedic registry to date.