ANN ARBOR, MICH./OCT. 16, 2019 – The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R) has selected ArborMetrix as its partner for a new, state-of-the-art physiatry clinical data registry.

The registry will advance AAPM&R’s ability to collect high-quality, clinician and patient data across independent physician practices and larger institutions for use in generating insights to inform best practices, guide pioneering research, and improve care provided to patients.

Over the past two years, the Academy has started to collect deidentified clinical and non-clinical data from clinicians across the United States. Participating practices have received performance data from AAPM&R for quality improvement activities and MIPS reporting. As AAPM&R and its members have set a BOLD vision for the future of their clinical data registry, they sought a new partner to help fulfill its future-state goals.

“Our registry provides an infrastructure for the specialty to define and prove its value to key stakeholders in the health care system, including hospital administrators and payers. The evidence of our work will be critical in supporting our role in medicine and advancing our vision for the specialty,” said Peter C. Esselman, M.D., FAAPMR. President, AAPM&R. “Data from the registry will help us learn from each other what are the best treatments for our patients that result in optimal patient-centered outcomes.”

“The diversity of our specialty introduces numerous challenges and opportunities as we endeavor in the development of the registry. Creating an infrastructure that is both innovative and nimble in supporting our needs is critical to both the success of the registry and our specialty,” said Michael Hatzakis, M.D., FAAPMR, Chair, AAPM&R Registry Steering Committee. “We believe ArborMetrix has the solutions and expertise to help us meet our goals and needs and are excited to partner with them on this critical initiative.”

The AAPM&R Registry will be built on ArborMetrix Registryx, which leverages healthcare interoperability standards to intake data and transform that data into real-world evidence through smart analytics and intuitive and flexible reports.

The registry will launch with two pilot programs centered on ischemic stroke and low-back pain conditions, two clinical areas that most physiatrists treat, and will grow and evolve it from there.

“AAPM&R is both pragmatic and forward-thinking in their vision and approach to this registry,” said Kurt Skifstad, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, ArborMetrix. “Their new registry will take advantage of industry standards to make participation easy and efficient, while leveraging robust data science methodologies that makes participation valuable to their membership. Both will allow AAPM&R to be nimble and adapt to new industry trends, issues, and opportunities as they emerge.>”

###

About The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R) is the national medical specialty organization representing more than 9,000 physicians who are specialists in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R). PM&R physicians, also known as physiatrists, treat a wide variety of medical conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, nerves, bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons. PM&R physicians evaluate and treat injuries, illnesses, and disability, and are experts in designing comprehensive, patient-centered treatment plans. Physiatrists utilize cutting‐edge as well as time‐tested treatments to maximize function and quality of life. Learn more at www.aapmr.org.

ArborMetrix
ArborMetrix is the leading provider of healthcare analytics technology and services that improve outcomes, advance research, and demonstrate safety, effectiveness, and value. The ArborMetrix team of healthcare and data science experts help their customers transform meaningful data into high-quality, real-world insights to achieve measurable results.