Today’s Top Story
FDA to form patient advisory committee on medical devices.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced plans to form a new patient advisory committee on medical devices. As reported in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the 11-member panel will include nine voting members “knowledgeable in areas such as clinical research, primary care, patient experience, and health care needs of patient groups in the United States,” along with one nonvoting consumer representative and one nonvoting industry representative. The committee will advise FDA regarding policies, rules, clinical trial designs, and device labels, and review ways to determine patient preferences, report patient experience with medical devices, and address unmet clinical needs. Read more…
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Other News

Study: Compared to conventional PE, no negative effects linked to XLPE inserts in PS TKA.
Short-term data published in the October issue of The Journal of Arthroplasty find no deleterious effects related to the use of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) inserts in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) compared to conventional polyethylene. The research team conducted a prospective cohort study of 114 consecutive posterior-stabilized (PS) TKAs; conventional PE was used in 50 TKAs and a second-generation annealed XLPE was used in 64 TKAs. At mean 5-year follow-up, mean Knee Society Scores and SF-36 physical function subset scores were higher in the XLPE cohort. The research team found no radiographic osteolysis or mechanical failure related to tibial polyethylene in either group. Read the abstract…

Study: Anticoagulation protocols may be inadequate for patients who undergo IM nailing for metastatic disease.
Findings published in the Sept. 16 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery suggest that current anticoagulation protocols may be inadequate for patients who undergo intramedullary (IM) nailing for skeletal metastatic disease. The authors conducted a retrospective review of 287 patients with a total of 336 impending or pathologic long-bone fractures stabilized with IM nailing. They found an overall rate of venous thromboembolism (VTE) of 7.1 percent (24 of 336 fractures)—13 pulmonary embolism and 11 deep venous thrombosis. The authors found no significant relationship between type of anticoagulant used and development of VTE. However, they noted a significant positive correlation between lung-cancer histology and the development of VTE. Read the abstract…

Study: Physician empathy associated with increased patient satisfaction.
According to a study published in the September issue of The Journal of Hand Surgery, physician empathy may be a strong driver of patient satisfaction in the hand surgery office setting. The researchers surveyed 112 consecutive new patients regarding their overall satisfaction with the provider, along with other factors such as time spent in the waiting room, visit duration, and time from booking till appointment. They found that patient-rated physician empathy correlated strongly with degree of overall satisfaction, and after controlling for confounding effects, that greater empathy alone accounted for 65 percent of variation in satisfaction scores. Older patient age was also associated with satisfaction, but the researchers found no differences between satisfied and dissatisfied patients with regard to waiting time in the office, duration of the appointment, time from booking until appointment, and health literacy. Read the abstract…

AHA report looks at recent trends in RAC audits and appeals.
According to the most recent American Hospital Association (AHA) RACTrac report on recovery audic contractors (RACs), reporting hospitals appealed 49 percent of all RAC denials, and 58 percent of reviewed claims in Q2 2015 were found to not have an overpayment. Additional findings of the report include:

  • 30 percent of hospitals indicated they experienced automated denials for an outpatient coding error
  • 79 percent of hospitals received a complex denial based on inpatient coding in Q2 2015
  • 41 percent of hospitals report had a denial reversed in the discussion period
  • 44 percent of all cumulative appealed claims are still sitting in the appeals process

The report also notes that 50 percent of all hospitals reported spending more than $10,000 managing the RAC process during the 2nd quarter of 2015, 30 percent spent more than $25,000, and 7 percent spent more than $100,000. Data are based on information from 819 reporting hospitals. Read the complete report (PDF)…

Report finds national adult obesity rate exceeds 30 percent.
A report published by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examines obesity in the United States and finds that obesity rates remained stable in most states during the past year, but increased in the following five states: Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, and Utah. The report notes that rates of obesity now exceed 35 percent in three states, are at or above 30 percent in 22 states, and are not below 21 percent in any. For comparison, in 1980, no state had an obesity rate above 15 percent, and in 1991, no state had a rate above 20 percent. Nationally, more than 30 percent of adults and nearly 17 percent of youth aged 2 to 19 years are obese. Read more…
View the complete report…

Further evidence that playing football may be associated with CTE.
According to information released by the Concussion Legacy Foundation, brain tissue from 87 of 91 deceased former National Football League (NFL) players tested positive for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Overall, researchers found CTE in the brain tissue in 131 of 165 individuals who, before their deaths, played football either professionally, semi-professionally, in college or in high school. The researchers note that the disease can only be definitively identified posthumously, and that the trend is likely be skewed by the fact that many of the players who donated their brains for testing already suspected they had CTE. However, one expert calls the findings “remarkably consistent” with previous research that suggests a link between football and long-term brain disease. Read more…

Call for volunteers: NQF Disparities Committee.
AAOS seeks to nominate members to the National Quality Forum (NQF) Disparities Committee. The primary role of this committee will be to serve as a resource for all of NQF’s activities, including measure evaluation, selection, consideration of use, and improvement. Applicants for this position must be active fellows, candidate members, candidate members osteopathic, candidate member applicants for fellowship, or candidate member applicants for fellowship osteopathic. In addition, all applicants must provide the following: an online AAOS CAP application, a current curriculum vitae, a 100-word biosketch, and a letter of interest highlighting his or her expertise in the subject area and a statement that he or she is able to participate in full capacity. All supporting materials must be submitted to Kyle Shah by Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. CT, at: shah@aaos.org
Learn more and submit your application…(member login required)