Are Patients Really Getting What They Want? The Routine Implementation
of Decision Aids for Patients with Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis in the
High Value Healthcare Collaborative and Alignment between Patient
Treatment Choice and Receipt
Abstract
Rationale, Aims and Objectives: Alignment between patients’ treatment
choices and treatments received is acknowledged as an important outcome
of shared decision-making (SDM), yet recent research suggests that
patients’ choices do not always align with their actual treatment
trajectories. This paper explores the alignment of patient-expressed
treatment choices (for surgery or medical management) after exposure to
decision aids and treatments received among patients with hip or knee
osteoarthritis within High Value Healthcare Collaborative (HVHC) systems
as the collaborative integrating decision aids intended to support SDM
into routine clinical practice. Method: This retrospective cohort study
examines data from adult (>18 years) patients with hip or
knee osteoarthritis who received decision aids as part of orthopedic
consultations within HVHC systems between 2012-2015. Multivariate
logistic regression explored the association between patient-level
characteristics with the odds of treatment choice-receipt alignment.
Results: The majority of patients with knee osteoarthritis (68.3%) and
hip osteoarthritis (71.9%) received treatments aligned with their
choices following exposure to decision aids, but analyses reveal
important differences in the odds of such alignment across patient
characteristics. In adjusted models, African American patients with knee
osteoarthritis had 50% lower odds of receiving treatment aligned with
their choices compared with white patients (OR = 0.52,
p<0.05). Medicare- or Medicaid-insured knee patients had 49%
and 59% lower odds (respectively) of receiving choice-aligned
treatments relative to privately insured patients. Patients with knee
(OR = 0.40, p<0.01) or hip (OR = 0.75, p<0.05)
osteoarthritis at earlier decision-making stages had lower odds of
receiving treatments congruent with their choices. Conclusion: This work
elucidates the odds of treatment choice-aligned care for patients within
health care systems attempting to routinely integrate decision aids to
support SDM into clinical practice and underscores the gaps in achieving
this alignment among African American patients, those with public
insurance and those at early decision-making stages.