Incorporating Patient Journey Modelling into the Osteoarthritis Chronic Care Program Trial: Report to Hunter New England Local Health District

Best practice guidelines recommend conservative, multidisciplinary management of individuals with osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. Unfortunately, evidence also suggests that clinical practice diverges from the guidelines and that current care is episodic, uncoordinated and often lacking in an evidence-base. As a result, many sufferers are referred for surgery in the first instance, rather than as a last resort. This causes unnecessary queues, inefficient use of resources and delayed treatments. The Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD) enlisted the assistance of the University of Western Sydney (UWS) research team to investigate the existing acute, primary and private non-surgical management pathways and show the relationship with the new Osteo-Arthritis Chronic Care Program (OACCP) in an effort to a) increase the use of evidence based care, b) enhance the quality of life of the OA patient and c) identify opportunities to better utilize primary and community based health resources. In addition, the UWS team was asked to list direct and indirect cost markers associated with the different service pathways, including costs to the provider and patient.