Joint Replacement & CJR-X

CJR-X Changes the Economics of Joint Replacement.

Hospitals will be accountable for the recovery — not just the surgery.

CJR-X shifts joint replacement from a procedure-based business to an episode-of-care model. Hospitals will increasingly need to demonstrate that patients are recovering effectively, efficiently and without avoidable complications. AvaSci creates the objective digital recovery record hospitals need to manage that episode.

Request a CJR-X DiscussionSee How AvaSci Works
The problem CJR-X creates

The hospital can perform a successful surgery — and still lose money.

Under CJR-X the financial responsibility extends beyond the operating room. CMS describes the model as an episode-based payment approach in which hospitals are accountable for the cost and quality of care associated with lower-extremity joint replacement episodes — spanning the surgery, the hospitalisation and the initial 90 days of recovery, including follow-up care such as physical therapy.

CMS has indicated the model applies nationwide from January 1, 2028, covering hip, knee and ankle replacements.

How does a hospital objectively know whether a patient is recovering as expected?

Today, recovery information is often scattered across:

  • Surgeon examinations
  • Physical therapy notes
  • Patient-reported outcomes
  • Goniometer measurements
  • Functional assessments
  • EHR documentation
  • Follow-up visits

These records document care — but they do not necessarily create a continuous, objective measurement of physical recovery.

AvaSci creates the missing recovery record.

AvaSci uses an iPhone or iPad to capture and analyse human movement, creating objective measurements of joint motion and functional movement.

Instead of asking

Does the patient appear to be improving?

AvaSci helps you answer

How much has the patient's function actually improved?

Preoperative Function

Establish the patient's baseline before surgery — the reference point every later measurement is compared against.

Early Recovery

Measure movement and function during the critical early recovery period, when problems are cheapest to correct.

Physical Therapy Progress

Objectively document what changes across therapy sessions, rather than recording only that therapy occurred.

Functional Recovery

Measure movement patterns, range of motion, gait and other relevant parameters with repeatable precision.

90-Day Recovery

Build a longitudinal record showing how the patient progressed across the whole episode of care.

One patient. One recovery record.

Connect the hospital, the surgeon and the physical therapist around the same objective data — a common measurement platform across the whole recovery journey.

Hospital
Surgeon
Physical Therapist
Patient

Data flows back to the hospital, closing the loop on the episode.

From a surgical event to a measurable recovery

1

Before Surgery

Baseline assessment

2

Surgery

Procedure performed

3

Early Recovery

Objective functional measurement

4

Physical Therapy

Repeated measurements

5

90-Day Episode

Recovery trajectory

6

Recovery Record

Objective, longitudinal, shareable

Why this matters under CJR-X

1

Identify patients who are not progressing as expected

Objective measurements can help surface recovery patterns that may warrant earlier intervention.

2

Measure the effectiveness of rehabilitation

Instead of simply recording that physical therapy occurred, measure whether function is actually changing.

3

Detect recovery problems earlier

Changes in movement, range of motion or gait may provide an earlier signal that a patient needs additional attention.

4

Compare recovery across patients

Hospitals can begin developing their own recovery database, building a picture of what successful recovery looks like across different patient populations.

5

Demonstrate outcomes

Create an objective record that supports discussions among surgeons, therapists, administrators and patients.

CMS itself identifies data sharing and coordination among surgeons, primary-care physicians and physical therapists as important components of successful bundled-payment care. AvaSci adds another dimension: objective functional data.

The goal is not to replace the surgeon, the therapist or the EHR. It is to give them better information.

The AvaSci CJR-X Advantage

Traditional Recovery DocumentationAvaSci
Primarily narrativeObjective measurements
Individual observationsRepeatable measurements
Snapshot assessmentsLongitudinal recovery record
Providers may use different methodsCommon measurement platform
Difficult to quantify improvementQuantifiable change
Recovery documentedRecovery measured

Related Solutions

Frequently Asked

What is CJR-X and why does it change what hospitals need?+
CJR-X is an episode-based payment model for lower-extremity joint replacement. CMS describes it as an approach in which hospitals are accountable for the cost and quality of care across the episode — the surgery, the hospitalisation and the initial 90 days of recovery, including follow-up care such as physical therapy. That extends financial responsibility well beyond the operating room, so hospitals need a way to know objectively whether patients are recovering as expected. CMS has indicated the model applies nationwide from January 1, 2028, covering hip, knee and ankle replacements.
How does AvaSci fit alongside our EHR and existing documentation?+
It adds a measurement layer rather than replacing anything. Your EHR, surgeon notes and therapy documentation continue as they are; AvaSci contributes objective functional measurements that attach to the record. The goal is not to replace the surgeon, the therapist or the EHR — it is to give them better information to work from.
What does the hospital need to deploy this across an episode?+
An iPhone or iPad. AvaSci captures and analyses human movement from a standard device camera, with no motion-capture suits, force plates, wearables or calibration room, so the same protocol can run in the hospital, the surgeon office and the physical therapy clinic.
Can the surgeon, the hospital and the physical therapist all work from the same data?+
Yes — that is the point of a common measurement platform. Rather than relying on disconnected observations recorded in different formats, each party measures with the same protocol, so the resulting recovery record is comparable across the whole care team and across the 90-day episode.

CJR-X makes the hospital accountable for recovery. AvaSci makes it measurable.

Talk to our team about building the objective recovery record for your joint replacement service line.

Request a CJR-X Discussion