The Local Perspective: Health Care Delivery in Syracuse, NY

The traditional health care quality framework of structure, process, and outcome offers a perspective that we can use to look at the changes in the health system in Syracuse

Patient Reported Outcomes in Arthritis, TJR, and Physical Activity Research

As part of the mini-symposium entitled Biomechanical Gait Analysis for Improving Clinical Outcomes: Applications for Orthopedics, Geriatrics and Community Based Research, this presentation discusses the importance of patient reported outcomes (PRO) in clinical research and the PRO/physical activity translational research in osteoarthritis and and total joint replacement at UMass Medical School

Using Interviews to Understand Patients’ Post-operative Pain Management Educational Needs Before and After Elective Total Joint Replacement Surgery

Objective: To better understand the education needs of patients electing to have TJR in managing their pain in the post-operative period after discharge from the hospital. Methods: An exploratory, descriptive, qualitative design. Convenience sample of people who reported that they had not received information about pain management prior to TJR surgery were recruited from 9 surgeon practices in 8 states to participate in telephone interviews, utilizing open-ended questions. Questions included: recollection of pre-op class attended and content; experiences with surgical pain after surgery and how it was managed; experiences with pain medicine; experience using non-medicine related pain reduction methods; suggestions for delivery of pain management information. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Data were categorized using content analysis techniques. Results: Seventeen patients were interviewed. Although all remembered attending a pre-operative class prior to their joint replacement surgery, none remembered receiving information during that class about managing pain once they were discharged. All had been prescribed an opioid for pain management post-operatively; however no patients reported receiving any information regarding use of the medication other than the information on the pill bottle. Many had concerns regarding the use of opioids to control their pain, including side effects, such as constipation and the risk of addiction. The most common non-medicine method used to manage pain was the use of ice. Participants believed that information about pain management, including both non-medicine approaches and instructions for taking opioids would be helpful and should be delivered at multiple time points, including pre-operatively, at discharge, and within the first few days after discharge. Conclusion: With trends toward shorter hospital stays, home based pain management is a priority. Understanding the pain management education needs of patients considering elective TJR could inform interventions for this population as well as provide insight into the needs of other patients undergoing surgery

Predicting Early Failure in Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Critical Review of Oxinium Femoral Components

Introduction: Retrospectively, it has been shown that significant patient-reported pain 6 months following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is associated with a 7 times greater revision rate at 5 years. Our goal is to use the FORCE-TJR registry to prospectively evaluate if postoperative pain and function scores can predict increased revision rate 5 years following TKA. Our preliminary analyses have focused on one implant reported by Australia to have a significantly high 5-year revision rate: Oxinium femoral components. Materials and Methods: FORCE-TJR matched implant catalog numbers to the international implant library to define TKA patients who received oxinium femoral components and all other implants. We defined 12-month KOOS pain and function (SF PCS) for patients with the study implant and all others (n=9187). Age, BMI, sex, pre-TKA pain, function, low back pain severity, and Charlson comorbidity index were compared for patients with moderate pain (KOOS pain\u3c75) vs. minimal pain (KOOS pain\u3e75) at 12 months postoperatively. Results: We observed that 27% of oxinium patients reported moderate pain vs. 21% of patients receiving all implants at 12 months postoperatively. Compared to patients with minimal pain, moderate pain patients had greater pre-op pain (KOOS=37 vs. 50; p\u3c 0.0002), poorer pre-op function (PCS=30 vs. 33; p\u3c0.04), and more moderate to severe low back pain (52% vs. 24%; p\u3c0.027). In addition, high 12-month pain patients had poorer 12-month function (PCS=37 vs. 45; p\u3c0.0000). Conclusion: These preliminary results indicate that moderate pain at 12-months post operatively is associated with poorer functional gain following TKA. Surgeons should recognize and potentially intervene on this group if improvement in their ultimate functional gain is desired. By continuing to follow this group of oxinium patients we will be able to determine if early pain and decreased function following TKA is associated with an increased revision rate

Defining an International Standard Set of Outcome Measures for Patients With Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis: Consensus of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis Working Group

OBJECTIVE: To define a minimum Standard Set of outcome measures and case-mix factors for monitoring, comparing, and improving health care for patients with clinically diagnosed hip or knee osteoarthritis (OA), with a focus on defining the outcomes that matter most to patients. METHODS: An international working group of patients, arthroplasty register experts, orthopedic surgeons, primary care physicians, rheumatologists, and physiotherapists representing 10 countries was assembled to review existing literature and practices for assessing outcomes of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic OA therapies, including surgery. A series of 8 teleconferences, incorporating a modified Delphi process, were held to reach consensus. RESULTS: The working group reached consensus on a concise set of outcome measures to evaluate patients\u27 joint pain, physical functioning, health-related quality of life, work status, mortality, reoperations, readmissions, and overall satisfaction with treatment result. To support analysis of these outcome measures, pertinent baseline characteristics and risk factor metrics were defined. Annual outcome measurement is recommended for all patients. CONCLUSION: We have defined a Standard Set of outcome measures for monitoring the care of people with clinically diagnosed hip or knee OA that is appropriate for use across all treatment and care settings. We believe this Standard Set provides meaningful, comparable, and easy to interpret measures ready to implement in clinics and/or registries globally. We view this set as an initial step that, when combined with cost data, will facilitate value-based health care improvements in the treatment of hip and knee OA

Effective Pain Information Pre-operatively is Associated with Improved Functional Gain after Total Joint Replacement

Objective: We evaluated receipt of pre-operative pain management education in a national prospective cohort on post-operative pain and function. Methods: Preoperative, 2 week and 6 month postoperative data from a nationally representative cohort of 1404 primary unilateral TJR patients with a date of surgery between May 2011 and December 2014. Data included demographics, comorbid conditions, operative joint pain severity (HOOS/KOOS), musculoskeletal disease burden, physical function (SF36 PCS), and mental health (SF36 MCS). At 2 weeks post-op, patients were asked if they had received information prior to surgery about pain management options and if so, how helpful the information was. Additionally, patients were asked about use of non-medication methods to relieve operative joint pain. Descriptive statistics were performed. Results: One third reported not receiving information about pain management; an additional 11% did not find it helpful. There were no differences pre-operatively in demographics, comorbid conditions, operative joint pain severity, musculoskeletal disease burden, SF36 PCS and MCS between those who received information and those who did not. Patients who received information about pain management options were more likely to use non-medication methods to relieve operative joint pain (p\u3c 0.000). They reported less current pain (p = 0.02) and maximum pain (p = 0.03) in their operative joint at 2 weeks post-op. At 6 months post-op, patients who reported not receiving information about pain management had statistically lower physical function scores that those receiving information (p = 0.04). There was no difference in HOOS/KOOS pain scores 6 months post-op. Conclusion: More than 40% of TJR patients in this study reported that they did not receive or received unhelpful information regarding post-op pain management options, highlighting a need for more consistent patient education. In this study, the lack of pain management information appears to negatively impact 6 month post-operative function

Using mHealth App to Support TKR Decision Making for Knee Arthritis Patients

Introduction: Mobile health (mHealth) technology can be used to integrate into medical decision making for patients with advanced knee arthritis. We explored patient preferences on content and design of a mobile health app to facilitate daily symptom capture and summary feedback reporting, in order to inform treatment decisions, including use of total knee replacement surgery (TKR). Methods: We developed an Android-based smart phone app for knee arthritis patients to assess arthritis symptoms and individual readiness for TKR surgery. Patient focus groups were conducted to gather requirements for mHealth app development and to refine the design and content of the app. Clinician (physical therapist, surgeon) interviews were conducted to understand clinician expectations from the summary trend report generated by the app. Results: Sixteen patients attended focus groups with an average age of 67 and 63% female, and three clinicians participated in clinician interviews. The preliminary findings revealed that the patients preferred easy tap user interfaces to multi-tap or slider methods, and vertical question layout to horizontal orientation. Patients liked to be engaged by progress feedback reports and educational tips. Both patients and clinicians found a trended outcome summary report helpful which provides more precise details on whether and how the symptoms are changing over time. Discussion: User input can inform the design and implementation of mHealth technology to deliver tailored knowledge to patients through a user-defined, patient-centered smart phone app. The tool will support future knee arthritis patient decisions regarding the need for, and timing of TKR surgery

mHealth technologies for osteoarthritis self-management and treatment: A systematic review

Osteoarthritis is a common chronic disease that can be better treated with the help of self-management interventions. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies are becoming a popular means to deliver such interventions. We reviewed the current state of research and development of mHealth technologies for osteoarthritis self-management to determine gaps future research could address. We conducted a systematic review of English articles and a survey of apps available in the marketplace as of 2016. Among 117 unique articles identified, 25 articles that met our inclusion criteria were reviewed in-depth. The app search identified 23 relevant apps for osteoarthritis self-management. Through the synthesis of three research themes (osteoarthritis assessment tools, osteoarthritis measurement tools, and osteoarthritis motion monitoring tools) that emerged from the current knowledge base, we provide a design framework to guide the development of more comprehensive osteoarthritis mHealth apps that facilitate self-management, decision support, and shared decision-making

Direct-to-Patient PRO Collection to Support Quality Improvement in TJR

Introduction: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are widely used in orthopedic clinical research to evaluate quality of care. However, it is difficult to capture complete post-operative PRO data through surgeon office visits. The UK and Sweden collect post-TJR PRO measures directly from patients in their homes. We compared two US post-operative PRO collection processes- PROs in clinic at scheduled office visits and direct-to-patient collection, to evaluate timing and completeness of both approaches. Methods: At a large TJR center that has collected PROs at office visits routinely for years, post-TJR patients complete a PRO survey on a computer at follow-up clinic visits. In contrast, the national FORCE-TJR cohort manages post-operative PRO surveys across dozens of offices by sending PROs to patients directly via web-based questionnaires or scannable paper forms. We calculated post-operative PRO response rates and timing from these two approaches and compared patient physical outcomes between them. Results: In the clinic, 892 patients had TJR surgery during the study period. Of these, 392 (44%) completed post-operative surveys; 115 (29%) between 5 months and 7 months after surgery, and 85 (22%) after 7 months. Direct to patient PRO surveys were centrally distributed in month 5 after surgery. Of 11,702 TJR patients, 8283 (71%) completed the PRO survey within 5 to 9 months post-op. Of these, 90% were returned between 5 and 7 months. SF36 PCS scores were comparable between these two approaches. Discussion: While PRO collection at the office visit can support individual patient care decisions, patients return to the surgeon office at varied time points after TJR based on their recovery progress and convenience. Direct to patient PRO collection with appropriate retention processes can lead to uniform data timing and optimal completeness. Quality monitoring programs will benefit from consistent data across providers and should consider these factors in designing PRO procedures