Blue Distinction Specialty Care is a national designation program, awarded by local Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies, recognizing healthcare providers that demonstrate expertise in delivering quality and affordable healthcare to meet consumers’ specialty care needs—safely, effectively, and cost-efficiently.
The AAOS is collaborating with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) to allow quality outcomes data from the American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR) and American Spine Registry (ASR), a collaborative effort between the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the AAOS, to be evaluated by BCBSA for current and prospective Blue Distinction Centers.
Program Benefits
- The Blue Distinction Center designation is a mark of quality, indicating that a hospital has met rigorous standards for delivering safe, effective, and cost-efficient care for hip, knee and spine surgeries. This recognition can enhance the hospital's reputation among patients, healthcare professionals, and insurers.
- AJRR and ASR will aggregate and stratify the required BCBSA quality measures on the behalf or participating sites, reducing the burden of submitting these measures for each race and ethnicity break down across the five measures for each specialty distinction program. This will reduce the tracking and data submission burden on sites, streamlining their initial designation or re-designation process.
Learn how your site can become a Blue Distinction Center and enhance its reputation among patients, healthcare professionals, and insurers.
The 2025 Blue Distinction Centers for Knee and Hip Replacement Program will evaluate acute care hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers that offer elective total knee replacement and total hip replacement services for adult patients (ages 18 and over) with degenerative disease.
The 2025 Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery Program will evaluate acute care hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers that offer elective spine surgery services for adult patients (ages 18 and over) with degenerative disease.
BCBSA Blue Distinction Registry Participant Toolkit
Download a toolkit with in-depth details on the requirements and expectations for taking part in the quality initiative, along with tips and best practices for effectively completing the reporting process for the AJRR and ASR programs.
To learn more about the AAOS Registry Program or how to submit your completed data consent form, email RegistryEngagement@aaos.org or call 847-292-0530.