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Table 1 Special characteristics of the orthopedic care program and additional care provided to intervention group participants

From: Evaluation of a collaborative ambulatory orthopedic care program for patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis: a comparative observational cohort study

Components of the orthopedic care program (a)

Promotion of guideline-recommended care

Defragmentation of health-care

Focus on chronic diseases due to rising life expectancy

Incentives to repeat consultations in critical clinical situations and to ensure pharmacotherapy is evidence-based

Morbidity-adapted reimbursement

Patient safety enhanced via multidisciplinary, structured and biopsychosocial-preventive care

Continuous data-driven quality improvement

Participation in clinical peer group training sessions, e.g. in drug therapy

Coordinated care pathways standardize communication between general practitioners and orthopedists

Provision of patient education and emphasis on nationwide disease management programs

Components of orthopedic care program provided in addition to usual care (b)

Participating specialists take part in regular and obligatory advanced training

Coordinated care pathways standardize cooperation between general practitioners and specialists (orthopedists)

Appointment within two weeks (in urgent cases appointment on the same day)

Doctor’s office waiting times may not exceed 30 min. Consultations also provided in the evenings

Special health-care services such as AOK-Sports and AOK-ProReha (additional services for patients requiring rehabilitation after surgery)

  1. (a) https://www.aok.de/pk/bw/inhalt/facharztprogramm-orthopaedie/
  2. (b) https://www.aok.de/pk/fileadmin/user_upload/AOK-Baden-Wuerttemberg/05-Content-PDF/aokbw-facharztprogrammf-flyer-englisch.pdf