The Comprehensive Joint Replacement (CJR) program is mandatory for hospitals in selected Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and covers THA and TKA episodes. CJR measures 90-day episode cost against a CMS target price — with gainsharing opportunities for hospitals and orthopedic practices that manage post-acute care utilization efficiently. An orthopedic practice participating in CJR needs to know, for every THA/TKA patient, whether the patient went to SNF (high-cost), IRF, or home with home health (lower cost), how long they stayed, and what the total 90-day episode cost was. Most orthopedic practices don't have access to this post-acute claims data in a timely format.
Functional outcome scores — KOOS (Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score) for TKA and HOOS (Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score) for THA — are increasingly required for registry reporting, payer quality contracts, and CJR quality composite scoring. Collecting pre-operative baseline scores and 6-month and 12-month post-operative scores requires a systematic patient contact and data entry workflow that most orthopedic practices have not implemented operationally. The practices that collect PRO data consistently are the ones that can demonstrate outcomes in value-based contracting conversations.
Pre-operative optimization is increasingly recognized as the highest-impact intervention for reducing THA/TKA complications and length of stay. Pre-op BMI above 40, HbA1c above 8.0 in diabetic patients, and active smoking status are the three modifiable risk factors most strongly associated with surgical site infection, readmission, and functional outcome. An orthopedic practice that tracks pre-operative optimization completion — HbA1c testing, smoking cessation documentation, and pre-habilitation completion — can demonstrate clinical excellence and reduce payer complication risk scores simultaneously.
CJR Episode Cost vs. Target Price
90-day episode total cost vs. CMS target price for each THA/TKA, with post-acute care utilization breakdown (SNF days, IRF days, home health episodes, readmissions). Gainsharing calculation based on quality composite score and cost performance relative to target.
BPCI-A Post-Acute Care Utilization
Under Bundled Payments for Care Improvement-Advanced, 90-day episode analytics by MS-DRG — anchor hospitalization cost plus all post-acute care spending. SNF vs. IRF vs. home health discharge disposition analysis by surgeon and patient risk profile to identify unnecessary post-acute utilization.
Implant Cost Per Case by Vendor
Implant acquisition cost per case by vendor, implant family, and surgeon. Vendor selection analysis — which surgeons are using premium-priced implants for standard primary THA/TKA? Revision rate by implant manufacturer to correlate implant selection with long-term outcome data.