The American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) 2025 Annual Meeting once again showcased the best of orthopedic surgical innovation. The exhibit halls were filled with energy, packed with demonstrations of the latest robotic-assisted systems, implant technologies, and intraoperative tools designed to improve surgical precision.
Medtech giants commanded the floor, drawing crowds to booths focused on implants, materials, and tools. Yet for all the innovation on display, there was one topic that remained largely offstage: the care quality and patient experience side of orthopedic care. Few exhibits or presentations featured non-surgical technologies such as digital patient engagement, data interoperability, or outcomes management: the very systems that determine whether new innovations ultimately succeed for hospitals, ASCs, and orthopedic surgeons.
What We Learned: Hardware Dominates at AAHKS
The research presented at this year’s AAHKS Annual Meeting reflected the field’s traditional strengths. Most podium sessions, posters, and lectures centered around refinements in surgical technique, comparative implant efficacy, wound closure and infection prevention, and antibiotic prophylaxis and post-op infection control. All of these are essential topics, and AAHKS has long been a leader in bringing the latest innovations to the forefront for orthopedic surgeons.
But this only tells part of the story. The future of musculoskeletal care and the sustainability of orthopedic service lines depends increasingly on how hospitals manage the total surgical episode, from pre-op readiness to post-op recovery and outcomes reporting. Ultimately, quality outcomes and patient satisfaction are just as important as surgical techniques and education; they are the measures that determine and showcase how much surgical advancements improve patients’ lives.
There were glimmers of such perspectives. A few presentations explored the use of predictive analytics and modeling to identify surgical success factors and stratify risk, signaling a shift from raw data collection toward more comprehensive data utilization. Some studies examined how payer type influences outcomes, a nod toward the economic and demographic realities of value-based care.
And there was some interest around AI-enabled messaging, where patients receive automated, tailored education based on their in-app communication. While still early-stage, these tools hint at a broader movement to personalize the digital patient experience, though there was little to no focus on how to operationalize such tools at the hospital level.
What We Didn’t Hear About: Quality
What was notably absent from AAHKS 2025 was any real discussion of how orthopedic surgeons at hospitals and ASCs are currently performing under CMS’s THA/TKA PRO-PM–which is now in its first mandatory reporting period for hospitals and soon to be in its second voluntary period for HOPDs and ASCs–or how they’re preparing workflows and internal processes for the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) starting in January 2026.
The THA/TKA PRO-PM requires hospitals to collect matched pre- and post-operative PROMs from at least 50% of their total hip and knee replacement patients. Falling short of that benchmark risks not only missed quality improvement opportunities, but direct financial penalties that can impact the hospital’s entire Medicare reimbursement stream, not just orthopedic dollars. Nonetheless, the topic drew little attention. There were no sessions unpacking first-year voluntary performance data, no shared best practices for PROMs collection workflows, and few strategies for operationalizing compliance.
Likewise, discussions around TEAM model readiness, which will test hospitals’ ability to manage 30-day total episode costs and care quality, were sparse. TEAM will reward hospitals that reduce readmissions, shorten length of stay, and safely discharge more patients home. But without infrastructure to capture and act on patient-reported outcomes data, hospitals will struggle to meet the dual goals of cost containment and quality improvement.
While the involvement and leadership of orthopedic surgeons in these metrics is critical for their teams’ success, they are not solely responsible for them. As our experience at AAHKS 2025 demonstrates, the orthopedic care industry is witnessing a period of increased specialization among various stakeholders as a response to the continued evolution of what it means to deliver high-quality orthopedic care.
What This Means for Hospital Leaders
If AAHKS 2025 was any indication, orthopedic surgeons remain focused on their domain of surgical performance and technology. Ultimately, quality compliance, patient engagement, and mandate readiness are organizational responsibilities that will fall on quality, nursing, and administrative teams.
Hospitals that want to stay ahead of CMS mandates must act now to:
- Standardize PROMs collection to meet or exceed the 50% matched rate requirement for THA/TKA procedures.
- Automate patient engagement throughout the episode to reduce manual outreach and ensure consistent data capture.
- Centralize outcomes reporting and analytics to support both clinical improvement and compliance.
- Leverage predictive insights to identify high-risk patients and intervene early, reducing costly readmissions and post-acute utilization.
This shift from surgical optimization to quality optimization marks the next competitive frontier in orthopedic care. Hospitals that fail to adapt will not only risk overall hospital finances and miss incentives under TEAM, but also risk reputational harm as quality scores become more transparent and payer networks tighten around value-based metrics.
From Quality Blind Spots to Data-Driven Care
At Force Therapeutics, a proud participant in the AAOS Preferred PROM Vendor program, we’ve seen how leading hospitals are closing this quality gap. With Force, many of our clients have achieved:
- 89% PROMs collection rates across thousands of joint replacement patients
- 26% reduction in readmissions
- 30% shorter lengths of stay
- 97% of patients discharged home
By automating patient engagement and outcomes collection, hospitals can meet CMS quality thresholds, reduce preventable complications, and deliver a seamless digital care experience that improves both patient satisfaction and operational efficiency.
AAHKS 2025 made it clear that orthopedic innovation continues to thrive inside the OR. But the next phase of leadership will be owned by hospitals and orthopedic teams that innovate around the OR, namely in how they connect with, educate, and learn from every patient.
Force Therapeutics is helping the top hospitals in the country realize that vision. Learn how today:
