Nation's Hip Fracture Rate Could Drop By 25 Percent With Aggressive Osteoporosis Prevention Plan, Kaiser Permanente Study Finds

Nation's Hip Fracture Rate Could Drop By 25 Percent With Aggressive
Osteoporosis Prevention Plan, Kaiser Permanente Study Finds
Study of 650,000 Men & Women Over 50 Finds 38 percent Drop in Hip Fracture
Rate

DOWNEY, Calif., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Aggressively managing patients at risk
for osteoporosis could reduce the hip fracture rate in the United States by 25
percent, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the November
issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The first step must be a more
active role by orthopedic surgeons in osteoporosis disease management,
researchers say.

This study, the largest to look at osteoporosis management in men and women
over 50 years old, followed 650,000 men and women in Kaiser Permanente's
osteoporosis management program and found hip fractures dropped by 38 percent,
preventing 970 hip fractures in 2007.

The prospective observational study examined the effectiveness of the Kaiser
Permanente Southern California's Healthy Bones Program from 2002 to 2007.
Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect®, the world's largest civilian electronic
health record database, was used to collect data on patients that included
anti-osteoporosis medication usage, bone density scans and fragility
fractures.

A recent report showed that Kaiser Permanente in Southern California leads the
nation for effective osteoporosis disease management. The National Committee
on Quality Assurance, a private, non-profit organization dedicated to
improving health care quality, recently released the results in its Quality
Compass® study of reporting health plans for 2008. Of the 10 million
Americans who have osteoporosis, 80 percent are women.

"Currently in the United States, the rate of treatment after a fragility
fracture is only 20 percent. Treatment after a fragility fracture at Kaiser
Permanente in Southern California is now 68 percent. Health care would be
drastically improved if this model of osteoporosis care were adapted for the
rest of America," said the study's lead author Richard M. Dell, MD, an
orthopedic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in Downey, California.

The Healthy Bones Program aggressively targets people at risk for hip
fractures by identifying them through KP HealthConnect to ensure they get the
bone density screenings and medications they need. The multidisciplinary team
includes orthopedic surgeons and providers from endocrinology, family
practice, internal medicine, rheumatology, gynecology, physical therapy,
disease/care management, radiology, and nursing education.

In this study, researchers found that annual bone density screening rates
increased by 263 percent from 2002 to 2007. In 2002 there were 21,557 scans a
year. In 2007, there were 78,262 scans. The number of people on
anti-osteoporosis medications increased by 153 percent from 33,208 in 2002 to
84,155 a year in 2007.

"The most important thing an orthopedic surgeon should know about
osteoporosis/fracture prevention is that we can take action that helps to
prevent hip and other fragility fractures," Dell said. "Simple steps like
suggesting calcium and vitamin D for all your patients and bone mineral
density testing in patients at higher risk for osteoporosis should be
considered part of your daily practice."

More than 300,000 hip fractures are reported annually in the United States.
Twenty-four percent of people who experience a hip fracture end up in a
nursing home, 50 percent never reach their functional capacity, and 25 percent
of patients over 65 years of age with a hip fracture die in the first year
after the incident.

"After a fracture, you need treatment, and in America, most people are not
getting the treatment they need," Dell said. "The lesson here is if you are
over 50 years old and have a fragility fracture, ask your doctor about getting
a bone density scan, and if needed, osteoporosis treatment."

Dr. Dell further states that understanding the pathophysiology of osteoporosis
and fragility fractures helps to develop a treatment strategy for your
patients. The medical management of osteoporosis is not always complex and can
be done by most practicing orthopedic surgeons.

Study authors include: Richard M. Dell, MD, and Denise Greene, RNP, MS, of the
Department of Orthopedics, Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center, and Dave
Anderson, MD, and Kathy Williams, MSG, of the Department of Orthopedics,
Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center.

About the Kaiser Permanente Department for Research and Evaluation
The Department of Research and Evaluation conducts high quality, innovative
research into disease etiology, prevention, treatment and care delivery.
Investigators conduct epidemiology, health sciences, and behavioral research
as well as clinical trials. Areas of interest include diabetes and obesity,
cancer, HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, aging and cognition, pregnancy
outcomes, women's and children's health, quality and safety, and
pharmacoepidemiology. Located in Pasadena, Calif., the department focuses on
translating research to practice quickly to benefit the health and lives of
Kaiser Permanente Southern California members and the general population.
Visit www.kp.org/research.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We
are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and
not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide
high-quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our
members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.6 million members
in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is
focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians,
specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are
empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for
health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and
world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care
innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community
health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.

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HEDIS® is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality
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The source for data contained in this publication is Quality Compass® 2008 and
is used with the permission of the National Committee for Quality Assurance
(NCQA). Any analysis, interpretation, or conclusion based on these data is
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SOURCE Kaiser Permanente

Emily Schwartz, +1-415-274-7926, eschwartz@golinharris.com, for Kaiser
Permanente