Telephone-Based and Electronically Delivered Interventions for Osteoarthritis Patients

Treatments for patients with osteoarthritis (OA) are limited to physical therapy, medications, injections, alternative therapies, behavioral strategies, and surgery. In this study, researchers compared what they called “patient-based,” “provider-based,” and combined patient–provider interventions with usual care in 537 outpatients with symptomatic hip or knee OA at 10 community-based primary care clinics. The “patient-based” intervention was delivered by telephone and included recommendations for physical activity and weight management, as well as cognitive-behavioral pain management. The “provider-based” intervention involved electronic delivery of OA treatment recommendations and algorithms to providers.

At 12 months, improvements from bas…