Osteoporosis Clinical Trial in Baltimore, MD

About This Osteoporosis Study in Baltimore

Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens bones so the bones may break easily. The risk for osteoporosis increases with age in both women and men. Osteoporosis affects 10 million older adults in the US. Osteoporosis is a common cause of broken bones in the hips and legs. Broken bones can lead to disability, nursing home placement, and death. Because of the dire consequences, a broken hip or leg is one of the most dreaded injuries for older adults. Many studies confirm that a simple regimen of exercise, healthy diet and bone-strengthening medications can improve overall recovery after a broken hip or leg. This regimen can prevent a person from becoming disabled, having future fractures, and even prevent death. Many older adults have surgery in a hospital after breaking a hip or leg. Then older adults go to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) for rehabilitation. Care in SNFs varies greatly. Some patients do not receive the regimen that the investigators know is most beneficial to improve bone health and recovery. Even patients who get exercise, healthy diet, and bone-strengthening medication in the SNF, may not continue with the regimen once patients go home. Therefore, the investigators want to implement and test OsteoPorotic fracTure preventION System (OPTIONS). OPTIONS is a program that will integrate the regimen into the care that is provided in SNFs and after discharge to the community. OPTONS will provide information about exercise, diet, and bone-strengthening medication. OPTIONS will provide doctors, clinical staff, patients, and care partners with the information these stakeholders need to carry out the best-practice regimen. The investigators are partnering with PointClickCare, a large cloud-based healthcare software provider, with SNFs and community care sites across the US. The investigators will include 32 SNFs from different US areas. The investigators will flip a coin to assign SNFs to the intervention (OPTIONS) or the control arm (enhanced usual care) of the study. Enhanced usual care is the care that is typically provided in SNFs after a fracture and adding information about a publicly available fall prevention toolkit. The investigators are using an "implementation science" approach that requires the investigators to get input from the OPTIONS study's vast stakeholder community throughout the study. The OPTIONS study's stakeholders include patients, care partners, clinicians, and professional organizations. The research question is, can using OPTIONS in SNFs and in the community after discharge improve physical function and quality of life in older people in the year after a hip or leg fracture? The investigators are measuring patient-reported outcomes. The investigators will include 1553 patients across the 32 facilities. The investigators have selected outcomes that are important to patients. Specifically, the investigators are measuring patient-reported function and quality of life. The investigators are also measuring patient-reported falls and fractures. The investigators will track the number of patients who die during the study. This study's hypothesis is that patients who receive OPTIONS will report better physical function (i.e., can walk and take better care of themselves) than those who receive enhanced usual care. The investigators also hypothesize that patients that receive OPTIONS will report a better quality of life than those who receive enhanced usual care. This study will provide sound data about the effectiveness of OPTIONS. OPTIONS could then be spread to other SNFs and community-based programs. This would ensure that all older people receive the right care after a hip or leg fracture.

Sponsor: Brigham and Women's Hospital