Patients who meet the following criteria are eligible for inclusion in Own the Bone:
- Age 50 and older
- Both male and female
- Patients presenting with a current fragility fracture, defined as a low-energy/impact fracture
- Patients identified for bone health evaluation prior to an elective spine or total joint procedure
- Seek a baseline for the number of fragility fracture patients your institution sees
- Include ED patients if feasible
- Decide which patients your institution will enroll
- At the start, it may be best to focus on a subset of eligible patients (hip fractures, inpatients, etc.)
- Develop a process that will help you find eligible patients
- To ensure eligible patients will get enrolled in your program it may be helpful to use ICD codes, referrals, etc.
Assemble Your Team
The Champion is a committed surgeon or other clinical leader who takes strong interest in the adoption, implementation, and success of the program. The Champion helps to get the program off the ground through building buy-in and consensus among colleagues and administration and helping the Program Coordinator address issues that arise as the program moves forward.
The Coordinator is often a nurse, nurse practitioner or a physician assistant but can also be a physician, physical therapist or other case manager. This person is typically responsible for the day-to-day operational tasks of the program and serves as the primary contact for the AOA’s Own the Bone program staff. Some sites also designate a Back-up Program Coordinator to assist with day-to-day operations.
Registry users may include additional team members that will be responsible for enrolling patients into the registry or pulling data reports.
The billing contact is often an individual who is involved with the financial department at your institution and will receive invoices related to the program and is responsible for processing payments.
We will work with individuals in these departments to determine how to best utilize and disseminate public relations tools such as internal/external press releases, social media, and annual recognition activities.
Some sites have found it useful to develop a council to regularly review the program’s performance and help identify ways to improve and expand. This typically involves the staff members identified above, with the addition of other interested clinicians and bone health specialists at your institution interested in advancing the program.
Meet the Measures
To facilitate compliance on the ten process measures, utilization of Own the Bone patient education materials is recommended.
Meeting the process measures for counseling is easy:
- The Own the Bone patient education flyer or brochure can be included as part of the patient’s discharge notes.
- Customized education and care coordination letters can be generated from the Own the Bone registry, reinforcing the counseling.
- Verbal reinforcement during the discharge process is recommended.
Best practice materials and measure specific studies are in the bone health toolkit to assist with establishing a process to meet the measures and provide additional information to inform counseling.
Enter Patients into the Registry
Visit our Registry Resources page to:
- Access on-demand registry training videos
- View and download enrollment and follow up case report forms
- Schedule a registry training
Patient data can be entered:
Directly into the web-based registry during the counseling visit
or
Captured on a paper-based form and inputted into the registry for retroactive enrollment.
Track patients internally using the patient’s registry-generated Subject ID with the patient tracking tool to document EMR numbers.
After a patient is enrolled into the registry you are able to generate customized patient education letters and care coordination letters for the patient’s PCP.
Through the “insights” tab in the registry you are able to:
- Gain insight into your patients’ demographic and fracture data
- Check your eligibility for inclusion in the annual recognition program
- Generate benchmarking reports to compare your institution’s compliance on the measures with all participating Own the Bone sites
Annual Recognition Program Criteria:
- Achieve a 75% compliance rate on at least 5 of the 10 Own the Bone prevention measures
- Document a minimum of 10 patients entered during a 12-month period from July 1st to June 30th
- Receive the “Own the Bone Star Performer” designation and be featured in the annual recognition piece in U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals,” guidebook.
- Sites that receive the designation get a Star Performer media toolkit, including a certificate of achievement and a logo, to help them publicize their achievement.
Market Your Program
Use our public relations tools to share your institution’s commitment to bone health within the community.
Own the Bone provides various Public Relations resources including:
- Internal and external example articles and press releases for newsletters
- Program logo
- Star Performer materials to publicize commitment to patient care
- National Osteoporosis Month media toolkit in May
- World Osteoporosis Day media toolkit in October
Contact the Own the Bone team for help with:
Getting started:
- Establish credentials for team members to make sure they have access to these resources on our website
- Be put in touch with an expert implementer at a successful Own the Bone site
Registry Operations:
- Set up or deactivate registry user accounts
- Schedule a registry training
- Run-through how to generate benchmarking and internal reports
- Assist with preparing a slide deck of your institution’s current data to share with your colleagues
Assistance with Marketing and Recognition:
- Determine your institution’s eligibility for recognition
- Connect us with a marketing contact to assist with publicizing your program, connect with your institution via social media, and creating a customized site spotlight on our website and newsletter.
Own the Bone team: Sarah, Ben, Stephanie, and Robin
Email: ownthebone@aoassn.org
Program Coordinator: Stephanie Sofinski
Email: sofinski@aoassn.org