April 08, 2021
Alexandria, VA – AMGA Foundation, in collaboration with Amgen, has launched its Osteoporosis Best Practices Learning Collaborative, a 12-month initiative focused on helping medical groups develop strategies to reduce fracture rates among patients with osteoporosis.
This initiative is designed to provide a platform for participating organizations to improve both clinical and economic outcomes through the development and implementation of quality improvement projects, best practice sharing, and peer-to-peer learning.
Participating organizations will have access to a National Advisory Committee for the Osteoporosis Collaborative, a panel of subject matter and clinical experts who will guide participants on developing objectives and educational content. In addition, they will have access to resources and activities from the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), a nationally recognized organization and an official partner of the Osteoporosis Collaborative. In addition to the NOF, The Kinetix Group has been selected as a partner to assist in the development of program content and on-going coordination.
“Nearly 54 million Americans have osteoporosis or low bone density, and approximately one in two women and one in four men age 50 and older will break a bone due to osteoporosis. Fractures often have a devastating effect on patients and lead to billions in direct care costs each year,” said John Kennedy, M.D., AMGA Foundation president and AMGA chief medical officer. “The aim of this collaborative is to improve osteoporosis screening, diagnosis, and treatment at 20 high-performing medical groups and health systems by implementing evidence-based best practices for bone health.”
The following medical groups and health systems were selected to participate in the collaborative:
| Bandera Family Medical Group
Caremount Medical Excela Health Florida Medical Clinic Geisinger Health HealthPartners Houston Methodist Kelsey-Seybold Clinic Maine Medical Partners Mercy Clinics |
Ochsner Health
Premier Medical Associates Prevea Health Sentara Healthcare SIMED Health St. Luke’s University Health Network Summa Health UC San Diego Health University of Rochester Utica Park Clinic |
“Many people with osteoporosis do not know they have the disease until after a broken bone and unfortunately recent evidence shows that even after a fracture, less than 15 percent of commercially insured U.S. patients receives treatment for osteoporosis,” said César Cerezo, M.D., Ph.D., vice president Global Medical General Medicine at Amgen. “This collaborative aligns to our mission to serve patients and commitment to predict and help prevent the impact of serious diseases like osteoporosis by seeking to improve the screening, diagnosis and treatment of patients.”
“We’re grateful to AMGA for leading this effort to prioritize quality osteoporosis patient care at these respected medical groups and health systems,” said Claire Gill, NOF chief executive officer. “We are pleased to participate in this important Osteoporosis Collaborative to help improve care and reduce the more than two million osteoporotic fractures that occur each year in the United States.”
The collaborative will officially begin in April 2021.
https://www.amga.org/about-amga/amga-newsroom/press-releases/040721/