Kaiser Permanente Total Joint Replacement Registry Enhances Patient Safety

A total joint replacement registry based on carefully designed and integrated technology can enhance patient safety, quality of care, cost-effectiveness and research, according to a paper published online in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, a journal of the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons.

Kaiser Permanente's Total Joint Replacement Registry—the nation's largest such registry— allows caregivers to analyze specific data from standardized forms and Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect, an electronic health record, on more than 100,000 joint replacement cases by more than 350 Kaiser Permanente surgeons nationwide.

Since its inception in 2001, the TJRR has helped healthcare providers identify best practices, evaluate risk factors associated with revision surgeries, and assess the clinical effectiveness of implants. It also provides information that can be used to study patient demographics, implant characteristics and surgical techniques in relationship to post-operative complications such as infections, revisions and re-operations.

The TJRR also allows Kaiser Permanente to immediately identify and notify patients about recalled or defective implants prior to an official recall notice. The TJRR was instrumental in assessing more than 15 advisories and concerns with implants in 2009 alone.