Bone Health Collaborative Launches Fracture Liaison Care Coordination Study in the Cloud to Improve Quality of Post-Fracture Care in Patients with Osteoporosis

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite 15 years of documented international success of the Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) model of post-fracture care to identify patients at risk in order to prevent costly and deadly secondary fractures in patients with osteoporosis, relatively few hospitals have successfully implemented this approach as a standard of care in the United States. A collaborative of the nation's leaders in osteoporosis patient care, quality improvement research, population health management and care coordination technology (Bone Health Collaborative) seek to study how to change that trend.

Led by the National Bone Health Alliance (NBHA), National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) and CECity.com, Inc. (CECity), the Bone Health Collaborative today announced the launch of a cloud-based Fracture Liaison Service Demonstration Study (FLS Demonstration) that will provide participating hospitals with the FLS model of care and CECity's cloud-based MedConcert® platform, to assess their hospital's adoption and implementation of a fracture liaison service across their communities. The FLS Demonstration Study, funded by Merck, is designed to demonstrate the ability to scale the FLS in the community setting, while measuring the impact on patient care. This includes targeting the nearly 80 percent care gap of older Americans who suffer bone breaks, but are not tested or treated for osteoporosis.

"With osteoporosis causing an estimated two million broken bones per year at an estimated direct cost of $19 billion, we know osteoporosis-related bone breaks are responsible for significant human and financial costs," said Robert Recker, MD, MACP, FACE, co-chair, NBHA, president, NOF and director, Osteoporosis Research Center, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska. "There has never been a greater need for effective post-fracture prevention and care coordination programs. These programs are the key to sparing many Americans from the pain, suffering and reduced quality of life associated with broken bones, while at the same time producing enormous cost savings for the healthcare system."

One of the key difficulties in osteoporosis and post-fracture patient care is the fragmented U.S. healthcare system, which makes it difficult to coordinate patient care across hospitals, medical offices and multiple medical specialties in the community. In fact, only 23 percent of women over age 67 who have suffered a hip or other type of fracture are tested or treated for osteoporosis, and 25 percent of patients who break their hip die within the first year. Medicare spends more than $5 billionannually to treat fractures among seniors, yet the majority of patients are released without being evaluated for osteoporosis – the underlying disease which may have led to the fracture.

The FLS Demonstration Study will leverage the experience and resources of each partner including NBHA's fracture prevention knowledge and expertise; NOF's expertise as the leading osteoporosis and bone health organization representing patients and healthcare professionals; and CECity's MedConcert performance improvement platform, to engage providers in breaking down walls in order to build innovative communities of practice designed to improve the safety and quality of patient care.

"We developed MedConcert to scale performance improvement by offering cost-effective tools for population health management, rapid cycle learning and communications that allow providers to connect across communities, regardless of their practice setting. The FLS Demonstration Study represents that perfect opportunity to combine proven best-practices in clinical care, with best-of-breed cloud technology, to assess the ability to accelerate and spread community-wide quality improvement," said Simone Karp, RPh, co-founder, chief business development officer, CECity. "We appreciate Merck's dedication to the study of improving the quality of patient care, and we are excited to be partnering with NBHA and NOF to help improve outcomes for patients with osteoporosis."

The study will begin in early 2014 and run for approximately 12 months within the three initial sites selected for the study. The partners expect to publish results of the study by mid-2015.

"This Demonstration Project will advance the science of chronic disease management," said Dr. Sachin Jain, Merck's chief medical information and innovation officer. "By helping us scale Fracture Liaison Services and other chronic care programs, we will help delivery systems achieve better clinical results for their patients."

About CECity®
Pittsburgh, PA-based CECity (www.cecity.com) is the health care industry's leading cloud-based provider of social enterprise platforms and distribution networks that address the "3 Ps" driven by healthcare reform: Performance Improvement, Pay for Value Reporting and Professional Certification. Leading organizations across healthcare, including hospitals, physician practices, payers, ACOs, IDNs, chain pharmacy, medical specialty boards and societies, count on CECity to power their high stakes initiatives. CECity customers represent the stewards of healthcare.

About MedConcert®
MedConcert® (www.medconcert.com), healthcare's first social enterprise cloud platform for continuous performance improvement and lifelong learning, provides one convenient, integrated solution to help all stakeholders answer the most important question, "How Do We Improve?" Through MedConcert, healthcare professionals and organizations engage in building secure social networks to monitor their individual and aggregate performance, manage the health of their patient populations, access tools and resources for improvement based upon their care gaps, and connect in meaningful ways to address a variety of critical needs driven by healthcare reform.

The MedConcert "App Store" provides users with a wide variety of solutions to help improve performance, while simplifying their lives to drive engagement. Available MedConcert apps include solutions for Quality Reporting (PQRSwizard®, Bridges to Excellence®), Meaningful Use reporting (Specialized Registries, eCQMs), Patient Engagement (NCQA-certified PCMH CG-CAHPS), Maintenance of Certification (Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute's Patient Safety Certification Program, Part IV Activities) and much more.

About the National Bone Health Alliance
Established in late 2010, the National Bone Health Alliance is a public-private partnership that brings together the expertise and resources of various partners across a broad spectrum to promote bone health and prevent disease; improve diagnosis and treatment of bone disease; and enhance bone research, surveillance and evaluation. The NBHA is a platform that allows all voices in the bone health community to work together around shared priorities and develop projects that can become reality through pooled funding. The 51 members of the Alliance (in addition to liaisons representing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Institutes of Health and U.S. Food and Drug Administration) are working from a shared vision: to improve the overall health and quality of life of all Americans by enhancing their bone health. For more information on NBHA, visit www.nbha.org.

About the National Osteoporosis Foundation
Established in 1984, the National Osteoporosis Foundation is the nation's leading health organization dedicated to preventing osteoporosis and broken bones, promoting strong bones for life and reducing human suffering through programs of awareness, education, advocacy and research. For more information on the National Osteoporosis Foundation, visit www.nof.org.

About the Fracture Liaison Service Model of Care
A Fracture Liaison Service is a coordinated preventive care model that operates under the supervision of bone health specialists and collaborates with the patient's primary care physician. Led by nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered nurses, or other healthcare professionals, the program ensures that older adult fracture patients receive appropriate osteoporosis testing, diagnosis, treatment and ongoing support post-fracture, even after they leave the hospital. Stemming from the U.S. Surgeon General's 2004 call to action for public and private stakeholders to join forces to improve bone health in America, the demonstration program combines resources to coordinate care across hospital departments and multiple physician specialties, allowing the FLS model of care to scale beyond its current capabilities. For more information about the FLS model of care, visit www.FracturePreventionCENTRAL.org.

About Merck and Co.
Today's Merck is a global healthcare leader working to help the world be well. Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and consumer care and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to healthcare through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Organizational Contacts:
David Lee, MPA
([email protected], 202.721.6351)

Amy Porter([email protected], 202.721.6362)

Image with caption: "CECity." Image available at: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131205/MM28148-a

Image with caption: "Merck & Co." Image available at: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131205/MM28148-b

Image with caption: "National Bone Health Alliance." Image available at: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131205/MM28148-c

Image with caption: "National Osteoporosis Foundation." Image available at: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131205/MM28148-d

SOURCE CECity