Opportunity: Osteoarthritis (OA) affects over 4 million Canadians with the knee and hip among the most commonly affected joints. It causes chronic pain, mobility disability, and reduced quality of life in older adults. Currently in British Columbia (BC), older adults with OA face inconsistent and inequitable access to guideline recommended, first line care (education, exercise) which is largely limited to private and urban settings. The Good Life with osteoArthritis in Denmark (GLA:D) Canada program is an evidence-guided, clinician supervised, group-based education and exercise program for people with knee and hip OA that has been implemented in Canada since 2016. A data registry with over 36,000 Canadians shows evidence of effectiveness at reducing pain and improving quality of life and cost-effectiveness studies report significant savings for the public health system by delaying or reducing joint replacement surgery. GLA:D is currently supported with public funding in Ontario and Alberta. In BC, many individuals with OA are unable to access first line care before surgery missing an opportunity to delay/avoid surgery or maximize health outcomes after surgery. Thus, there is a strong need to explore opportunities for better integration of GLAD into publicly funded health care pathways in BC.
Format: A half day (4 hour), in person meeting will be held at Robson Square, University of British Columbia in Vancouver to bring together a group of ~15 researchers and knowledge users to build relationships and to better understand multi level challenges and opportunities related to improving equitable access to first line care for hip and knee OA. The facilitated meeting will include a variety of interactive activities (e.g. brainstorm, small group discussion) purposely designed to support inclusive participation.
Participants: Attendees will include academic researchers with expertise in implementation science and first line OA care; health authority leaders; representatives from BC Orthopaedic Association and Doctors of BC; Clinicians experienced in OA management (orthopaedic surgeons, family physicians, physiotherapists), and PWLE of knee and hip OA.
Anticipated Outcomes: The central outcome of the event will be an enhanced understanding of the challenges of establishing accessible first line care in the BC public health care system, along with actionable next steps to explore future implementation, and agreed upon research priorities.