FRI0512 INTEGRATED CARE NETWORK AS A BUILDING STONE FOR SUSTAINABLE AND COMPREHENSIVE CARE FOR PATIENTS WITH ARTHRALGIA

Background: Western countries experience an increasing demand for care, particularly for inflammatory arthritis (IA), while the healthcare budget decreases1. The innovative value-based primary care strategy2 includes integrated care networks, where primary and secondary care bundle their expertise to improve patient value by providing the right care at the right place. General practitioners (GPs) have difficulties recognising IA, leading up to only 20% IA diagnoses of all newly referred arthralgia patients. However, since IA needs to be treated as early as possible to overcome progression, it is worthwhile to analyse whether integrated care networks have an impact on patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Triage by a rheumatologist in a primary care setting is one of the most promising integrated care networks for efficient referrals3. Objectives: To assess the effect of triage by a rheumatologist in a primary care setting in patients suspect for inflammatory arthritis. Methods: The present study follows a cluster randomized controlled trial design. The intervention, triage by a rheumatologist in a local primary care centre, will be compared to usual care. Usual care means that patients are referred to a rheumatology outpatient clinic based on the opinion of the general practitioner. The primary outcome is the frequency of IA diagnoses assessed by a rheumatologist. Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs (EQ-5D)) and costs (work productivity (iPCQ) and healthcare utilization (iMCQ)) were determined at baseline, after three, six and twelve months. The target was to include 267 patients for each study group (power level 0.8). Since this study is still ongoing we can only show first results on the efficiency of referrals. Results: In the period between February 2017 and December 2019 a total of 543 participants were included; 275 in the usual care group and 268 in the triage group. Mean age (51.3 ± 14.6 years) and percentage of men (23.6%) were comparable between groups (page=0.139; psex=0.330). The preliminary data show that the number of referred patients in the triage group is n=28 (10.5%) (Fig. 1). 32 patients (11.9%) were not referred directly but advice was given for additional diagnostics. Since all patients in the usual care group were referred there is a decrease of at least 77.6% in referrals when rheumatologists are participating in the integrated practice units. Preliminary data on diagnosis are available for all referred patients in the triage group and for n=137 (49.8%) in the usual care group at this point. In the triage group n=18 (64.2%) of referred patients were diagnosed with IA (6.7% of the total study population). In the usual care group this was n=52 (38.0%) of the patients yet diagnosed. Conclusion: These preliminary results of an integrated care network are promising. Approximately three-quarters of all patients can be withheld from expensive outpatient care. PROMs data and cost-effectiveness analysis will give clear answers in order to provide evidence whether this integrated care network can be implemented as a standard of care. References: [1] Rijksoverheid. (2018). Bestuurlijk akkoord medisch-specialistische zorg 2019 t/m 2022. https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/. [2] Porter ME, Pabo EA, Lee TH. (2013). Redesigning Primary Care: a strategic vision to improve value by organizing around patients’ needs. Health affairs, 32(3);516-525 [3] Akbari A, et al. (2008). Interventions to improve outpatient referrals from primary care to secondary care. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 4,CD005471. Disclosure of Interests: None declared