Enhancement of primary total joint arthroplasty (TJA) clinical and surgical protocols, cost containment, and recent shifts in Medicare policies have coalesced to promote the rapid growth of outpatient TJA. Identification of patients who can safely undergo outpatient TJA remains a top priority.
The Outpatient Arthroplasty Risk Assessment (OARA) score was previously developed to assign points to 52 comorbidities across 9 medical areas to generate a threshold score for safe patient selection.




