AAHKS 2026: What Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Surgeons Are Asking About Patient-Reported Outcomes

The question about patient-reported outcomes (PROs) has changed. It's no longer a question of whether to collect them, but how to collect them at scale. That's the conversation we expect to have at AAHKS 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, November 5-8.

Why this year feels different

CMS adds patient-reported outcomes to more programs every year, and the timelines are closer than most hospitals realize.

The inpatient THA/TKA PRO-PM is already required in the CMS Hospital IQR Program. Ahead of the September 30th deadline, we helped dozens of customers submit their data on time and with 100% success. But that's just the beginning. In 2027, the Information Transfer PRO-PM and the Ambulatory Specialty Model (ASM) become mandatory. In 2028, CJR-X and the mandatory outpatient and ASC THA/TKA PRO-PMs follow.

Whatever the setting, CMS wants the patient's voice in the measure. Programs that build collection workflows across every site of care now will be ready for all of it.

The real challenge

For many programs, the hard part of the PRO-PM is not the pre-op survey. It's the post-op follow-up. CMS requires the post-op survey 10 to 14 months after surgery, when patients are long past the day-to-day clinic visits. This is also where manual follow-up struggles and when collection rates drop. Without a post-op response to pair with the pre-op one, the surgeon never sees how that patient is doing a year out.

PatientIQ works inside the EHR, not around it. Patients are enrolled automatically when a procedure is scheduled, and outreach runs without staff involvement. With 76M+ outcomes collected across 870+ healthcare organizations and an 80%+ blended PRO collection rate across automated programs, we've seen what separates programs that scale from programs that stall.

What we want to learn from you

We're bringing three questions to AAHKS:

• What are your plans for the CMS PRO programs starting in 2027 and 2028?

• Where does post-op follow-up break down today: enrollment, patient response, or the 10- to 14-month window?

• How do your patients fare a year out, and does that data reach your surgeons?

Where you'll find us

Our team will be on the ground at AAHKS meeting with partners such as Zimmer Biomet, Breg, and EMN, as well as health systems and practices that want to be ready for what comes next. We are especially excited to discuss Zimmer Biomet mymobility, a digital care management platform designed to support patients throughout their orthopedic surgical journey. Through our partnership, PatientIQ delivers mymobility to patients through automated pathways, with no additional effort from providers or staff.