Digital Care Management Improves MSK Care, Force Therapeutics Report Shows

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Jul 18, 2023, 11:30 ET

Upcoming CMS incentives require providers to drive high-quality, value-based care through stronger patient engagement and care pathway compliance

NEW YORK, July 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Force Therapeutics, the leading musculoskeletal (MSK) digital care management platform, announced today the release of a new report demonstrating that its virtual care management and remote engagement platform resulted in clinically significant improvements in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) including pain, function, mental health, and activities of daily living in MSK patients.

The study comprises aggregated real-world data from nearly 55,000 MSK patients from four Force Therapeutics health system partners – Geisinger Health, Hartford Healthcare, ValueHealth, and Columbia Orthopaedic Group – across more than 25 facilities and over 200 providers.

Patients included in the report underwent a wide range of hip, knee, shoulder, and spine procedures, providing thousands of data points to evaluate utilization, patient experience, and outcomes based on standard scoring tools for clinical benefit, function, disability, mental health, and wellbeing.

Surgical preparedness and patient engagement were critical contributors to positive outcomes:

95% of patients using the Force Therapeutics platform felt "very prepared" for surgery.
83% average compliance with patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) was achieved across patients on the Force Therapeutics platform.
95% of patients using Force Therapeutics understood their post-discharge pain management plans "very clearly" or "clearly."
90% of patients reported being "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their surgical episodes combined with Force Therapeutics' care management plans.
87% of patients logged their pain in the Force Therapeutics platform, with each patient submitting 18 entries on average.

"Providers must be prepared for the increasingly rigorous requirements surrounding care quality and outcomes, which necessitate the implementation of holistic digital and remote care solutions," said Bronwyn Spira, CEO and founder, Force Therapeutics. "This report demonstrates that embracing digital care and virtual monitoring are the best ways forward for our healthcare system to improve quality and reduce costs."

The report is released at a time when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continues to transition the U.S. healthcare system from fee-for-service (FFS) to value-based care (VBC) models, incentivizing providers to adopt more comprehensive care strategies that consider all elements of the patient's care journey beyond the procedural intervention alone.

As part of its efforts to improve the national standard of care and lower the burden of healthcare costs, CMS will increasingly require the collection and reporting of demographic and social determinants of health data, as well as the incorporation of PROs into measuring care performance. Starting in 2025, it will become mandatory for hospitals under the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting program to collect and report PROs, risk variables, matching variables, and PRO-related variables for at least 50% of eligible total hip and knee arthroplasty patients. Failing to report the data will have a negative effect on subsequent annual payments.

Additionally, the report includes results from numerous standard PROs forms and patient surveys (e.g., HOOS Jr., KOOS Jr., ODI, VR-12) which are collected seamlessly through the Force Therapeutics platform, as well as methods of quantifying improvement in patient outcomes, such as the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) thresholds and substantial clinical benefit (SCB) values. A sampling of these results include:

Across all patients, the average length of stay was 1.1 days.
Among 11,741 hip patients, 82% met the HOOS Jr. MCID of 18 at one year.
Among 21,331 knee patients, 74% met the KOOS Jr. MCID of 15.1 at one year.
Among 3,834 shoulder patients, 84% met an ASES MCID of 15.2 and a Quick DASH MCID of 8 at one year.

The report demonstrates that thoughtful and comprehensive implementation of digital care strategies with enabling technology can lead to high opt-in, robust patient engagement, distinct and clinically significant improvements in pain, function, mental health, and activities of daily living, as well as marked declines in disability scores. Furthermore, enabling more outpatient procedures, reducing length of stay for inpatient procedures, and facilitating patient engagement that prevents avoidable ED visits and readmissions significantly reduces costs for both providers and payers.

"Without a comprehensive digital care strategy and strong patient engagement, providers will find it difficult to succeed in the rapidly evolving MSK care landscape," said Mark Lieberman, President and co-founder, Force Therapeutics. "Moreover, providers demonstrating proven quality and value can be designated as preferred providers in private insurance networks, leading to increased referral rates."

The full report is available for download at forcetherepeutics.com.

About Force Therapeutics
Force Therapeutics is the leading musculoskeletal (MSK) digital care management platform, designed to help clinicians effectively manage patients' rehabilitation and recovery remotely using evidence-based care pathways. The platform leverages video and digital connections to directly engage patients at every step of the care journey. Backed by millions of clinically validated patient data points and insights from more than 70 leading healthcare centers across the country, Force Therapeutics is proven to reduce care variation, lower overall costs, maximize care team efficiency, and improve patient outcomes and satisfaction.

Media Contact:
Maria Meredith
Amendola Communications for Force Therapeutics
[email protected]

SOURCE Force Therapeutics