EXPERT’S CORNER
Pat Franklin talks about a $12 million grant to improve outcomes in joint replacement

Each year, more than 700,000 adults in the United States have knee or hip replacement surgery to eliminate what can often be debilitating pain, and to regain joint function and mobility lost to advanced arthritis. With that number expected to grow significantly in the next 20 years, both for older adults and patients under age 65, accurately assessing the surgery’s real, everyday quality-of-life improvements for patients becomes critically important. The University of Massachusetts Medical School is leading the effort to improve outcomes and identify best practices through a major nationwide study of total joint replacement (TJR) surgery.

Through a $12 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, UMMS is establishing a nationwide registry of 33,000 TJR patients, develop tools with which to assess the success and failure of the surgery, and conduct research to guide both clinical care and health care policy.

UMMS was selected to oversee this critical project in part because of its focus on the patient perspective. Here, Patricia D. Franklin, MD, MBA, MPH, professor of orthopedics & physical rehabilitation and family medicine & community health, and principal investigator of the study, talks about the importance of understanding the real quality-of-life factors that patients must weigh when deciding to undergo joint replacement surgery. Franklin is also the Joy McCann Professor for Women in Medicine.

Learn more about this project at: http://www.force-tjr.org