Last Wednesday two Democratic house representatives introduced a bill that would create a national database of patients who have received artificial hips and knees, a system already used in some other countries to track how patients fare.

The system, according to data from these other systems as represented in the House, helps reduce unnecessary surgeries and weeds out inferior products. The key to the the bill is to reduce medical costs -- a major and hot button issue in the United States -- and offer better health care to patients with artificial hips and knees.

According to the article, the United States is the largest consumer of artificial hips and knees in the world, but it has "long lagged behind other countries in making use of joint registries."

There are, of course, pros and cons for the registry. The best benefit a registry like this could have would be better patient care. It allows for doctors to ensure that the best practices and medicine is being given to patients.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/business/11device.html?ref=health