Grant: Operating Grant

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic condition affecting more than 10% of Canadian adults and costing a total of $27.5 billion annually in terms of medical bills, missed work, and lost wages. The burden of this condition is anticipated to escalate in the future as more people are expected to develop OA. Hence, Canadian health policy makers need to make appropriate decisions about how to align costly health care resources to improve population health and manage this condition. However, such decision making is difficult as we lack knowledge of how these decisions translate into intended and unintended consequences, yet long-term planning is required to effectively address the needs of future patients. To assist with this, we propose to develop a decision support tool designed to equip policy makers with the information needed to make evidence-based decisions relating to the OA care system. Our overall objective is to develop a quantitative system tool that policy makers can use to inform strategic OA resource management and planning decisions among diverse populations as they seek to improve system performance and patient outcomes while controlling costs. The tool, based on a simulation technique called system dynamics, will reveal the effects alternative policies may have on the performance of the health system, resource requirements, costs, and patient outcomes in both the short- and long-terms. Based on our expert team knowledge, experience, and preliminary research, we propose to develop a tool that will be flexible and comprehensive, taking into account patient demographics, geographical variations, comorbidities, and patient health outcomes. Currently there is a dearth of such tools that enable system-wide analysis, resulting in resources often being used inefficiently. Hence, a key benefit of this tool is that it will allow health services planners to test the effects of new policies prior to their implementation and before major investments of time and resources.