AJRR ExecutiveCommittee

Conference Call Minutes

April 19, 2012

8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (CDT)

Members Present:

Robert Durgin, JD; David G. Lewallen, MD, Steven H. Stern, MD

Members Absent:

William J. Maloney, MD

AJRR Staff:

Caryn D. Etkin, PhD, MPH, Randy Meinzer, Robert Portman, JD, Lore Venable

Call to Order/Disclosures

Dr. Lewallen called the meeting to order at 8:02 p.m. (CDT). He explained the normal fiduciary responsibilities, antitrust guidelines and disclosure of conflicts of interest requirements. No new conflicts of interest were reported.

Financial Report

Dr. Stern directed all to the March financial report included in the meeting packet. Dr. Stern noted the negative $16,250 in software fees. This had been “expensed” in a prior month and is now being depreciated. To-date, total 2012 AJRR operating expenses are at $250,888, which while more than last year is still under budget. Dr. Stern also announced receipt of a check in the amount of $50,000 from AAHKS.

Review of Operational Metrics

Dr. Etkin reported that one new site, Lancaster General in Pennsylvania, will be contributing data beginning next week. Going forward, Lancaster General will be submitting data on the 25th of every month. AJRR has received a signed contract from St. Luke’s Episcopal-Presbyterian in St. Louis and Scott & White in Texas. Dr. Etkin briefly discussed the May 2nd webinar which she believes will help to get more legal agreements signed. 30 hospitals have already signed up for the webinar, with potential for more as the date gets closer.

Dr. Lewallen reviewed new Participation Agreement language today, approved it and acknowledged that contracts should now be sent out to the hospitals to see how it is received.

ACTION

Mr. Portman to send new contract language to Mr. Durgin

Dr. Etkin also mentioned that she is still working with California, Michigan, and FORCE-TJR groups to complete the data sharing agreement.

Mr. Durgin asked about Rothman and St. Francis backlogs with data submission. Mr. Meinzer explained that the facilities are backlogged on entering their data due to time management on their side; and because our system was down for a couple of weeks. Our system is now back online and the sites are currently entering data as quickly as they can to get caught up. Rothman is still entering their data on a case by case basis, but AJRR is working closely with them to try and get batch download of their data.

Data Systems Status Report

Mr. Meinzer stated that the AJRR database and system is now fully prepared to accept data. AJRR has access to 3 sites; one for development, a second to use as a training system, and the actual submission site. The first training session with Rothman Institute will be held next week. Once training is complete, there are two new sites that want to use manual data entry. Fifteen emails have been sent to sites expressing interest in contributing data. Of the 15 sites, 3 want to do manual data entry. Mr. Durgin and Dr. Stern requested a 1-page document with the information Mr. Meinzer presented in the meeting.

ACTION:

Mr. Meinzer will send out a summary document of Remedy Informatics status.

CMTP Update

Dr. Lewallen solicited feedback from the Board and Executive Committee members on the document provided from CMTP to the AJRR and received no comments. Dr. Lewallen is comfortable with telling CMTP that AJRR no longer needs their services, but that AJRR needs a strategic plan. The group discussed that some of CMTP’s offerings are important and related tasks must be accomplished. The decision to continue or not to continue with CMTP is exacerbated by the fact that it remains uncertain how much help the AAOS Washington, DC office will be with the departure of Jeanie Kennedy and the fact that AJRR does not yet have a Medical or Executive Director. Dr. Lewallen suggested that AJRR could define to CMTP what would be useful to do and have CMTP formulate a cost for a focus project. Dr. Lewallen then solicited suggestions from the Executive Committee members on how to better address this issue.

Symposium from 2013 AAOS Annual Meeting

Dr. Lewallen shared with those present that the AAOS has invited AJRR submit a symposium for the 2013 Annual Meeting. Dr. Maloney did a symposium at 2012 which was well received, and as such, Dr. Lewallen firmly believes that the AJRR should submit an application.

ACTION

Executive Committee members should submit symposium ideas to Dr. Lewallen.

Development of Marketing Committee

Dr. Etkin discussed the development of the Marketing Committee. She reiterated that it would be helpful to have a committee to work with to develop a formal recruitment plan. AJRR has interest from PAB members, but Dr. Etkin also asked for suggestions on other possible interested physicians. Dr. Lewallen added that AJRR needs to solicit AdvaMed for membership; it does not need to be all or current board members. Dr. Lewallen suggested reaching out to early adopters of AJRR. Stakeholder representation should also be considered, if it makes sense, but it is important to fill the Marketing Committee. Dr. Etkin felt 8 people would suffice. If considering people outside of the board, Dr. Stern suggested David Mino from CIGNA and Dr. Lewallen agreed.

ACTION

Dr. Etkin is to send list of original AJRR members to Dr. Lewallen for review within the next two weeks.

Update on Virginia and other Physician Registries

Dr. Etkin stated that after some research, AJRR will not pursue individual surgeon registries because they would likely be missing critical data elements. The Virginia Joint Registry/Dr. Bill Jiranek said they would share their data with AJRR as long as it is de-identified. AJRR also asked Dr. Jiranek for a list of participant hospitals so AJRR can pursue those to sign BAAs.

Other Business

There was a brief discussion on Zimmer expressing interest in using AJRR data for research.

Mr. Durgin asked about Dr. Gioe's work on the Data Policies and Procedures document. Dr. Etkin stated that the document is complete. Mr. Durgin suggested that board needs to approve it. Mr. Meinzer stated that the document needs to be proceduralized, which is a fair amount of work. Members questioned if this could be a stand-alone procedure. Mr. Meinzer will attempt to make time to work on this. Dr. Lewallen urged completion of this document as it needs to be in place no later than summer board meeting. It was also suggested that this could be passed on to Messrs. Portman and Durgin and Drs. Stern and Gioe who could perhaps have this completed within 60 days.

Dr. Lewallen adjourned the meeting at 8:45 p.m. (CT).

Prepared By:
Lore Venable
Administrative Assistant, AJRR
Date: April 20, 2012 / Approved By:
Steven H. Stern, MD
AJRR Treasurer/Secretary
Date:

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