Measure description
Percentage of patients 18 years of age and older who received an elective primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) and completed a functional status assessment within 90 days prior to the surgery and in the 270-365 days after the surgery
Rationale
Total hip arthroplasties (THAs) are common surgical procedures that address hip pain and functional impairment, primarily caused by osteoarthritis. Although THA is an effective procedure for addressing osteoarthritis for many patients, some people, particularly those with more severe preoperative pain and impairment, do not experience the improvements in pain, function, and quality of life expected from the procedure (Beswick et al., 2012; Fortin et al., 1999; Tilbury et al., 2016). In 2010, providers performed 326,100 THAs, with 95 percent of them in patients age 45 and older (Wolford, Palso, & Bercovitz, 2015). Although THAs were introduced as a procedure for older adults, the percentage of patients age 55 to 64 (29 percent) who had a THA in 2010 exceeded the percentage of patients age 75 and older (26 percent) who had a THA (Wolford, Palso, & Bercovitz, 2015). Kurtz et al. (2009) projected that patients younger than 65 would account for 52 percent of THAs by 2030. This growth in hip surgeries for patients younger than 65 is significant because these patients often require more expensive joint arthroplasties that will better withstand the wear caused by physical activity (Bozic et al., 2006).
This measure evaluates whether patients complete a patient-reported functional status assessment (FSA) before and after a THA. Measuring functional status for patients undergoing THA permits longitudinal assessment - from the patient's perspective - of the impact of surgical intervention on pain, physical function, as well as health-related quality of life (Rothrock, 2010).
Clinical Recommendation Statement
While there is no clinical guideline recommending that clinicians assess patients who are undergoing total hip replacements using patient-reported outcomes of function and pain, several clinical specialty societies support the use of a general health questionnaire and a disease-specific questionnaire for these patients. In particular, they recommend the Veterans RAND 12-item health survey (VR-12) or the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System [PROMIS]-10-Global as the general health questionnaire and the Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score [HOOS], Jr. as the disease-specific questionnaire (American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Joint Replacement Registry, The Hip Society, The Knee Society, & the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, 2015).