Duke IHI was pleased to host Dr. Mather, MD MBA, as part of our ongoing speaker series. Dr. Mather is the vice chairman of practice innovation in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Duke University School of Medicine and a faculty member at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. Dr. Mather discussed the Practice Innovation Unit at Duke Orthopaedics and one of their undergoing projects – the Joint Health Program. This project aims to provide a comprehensive care plan for osteoarthritis care. Currently, care is skewed towards surgical management, however for many patients, this is unnecessary. The Joint Health Program establishes a primary osteoarthritis provider that can coordinate and tailor the chronic care involving physical therapy, social work, and treatment regimen to patient needs. This helps ensure better selection of patients requiring surgery and gives patients a very individualized plan for their osteoarthritis. Initial results have shown very positive patient feedback.
Many thanks to Dr. Mather for speaking!
