KCE tele-rehabilitation study

As part of the process of scientifically substantiating and continuously improving our clinical results, your hospital is taking part in a study organised by the Federal Centre for Health Care Knowledge.

Purpose of the tele-rehabilitation study

The purpose of the convention study is to determine whether the use of this application

  1. will produce equivalent rehabilitation results vs standard of care measured by:
    • PROMs with regard to outcomes
    • quality of life after arthroplasty
    • Incidence of complications, long-term use of heavy analgesics, unplanned consultations and readmissions.
  2. has better cost-effectiveness

Standard of care: classic treatment with only sessions with a physical presence.

3 arms of the study

With a view to achieving the above objectives, the rights holders in the KCE tele-rehabilitation study will be randomised in 3 arms:

  1. Arm 1 — Patients randomised in arm 1 follow conventional rehabilitation with support from the physiotherapist in sessions with physical presence only
  2. Arm 2 — Patients randomised to arm 2 follow rehabilitation using the mobile application with a set minimum number of conventional physiotherapy sessions with physical presence of the physiotherapist
  3. Arm 3 — Patients randomised to arm 3 follow rehabilitation using the mobile application without a set minimum number of conventional physiotherapy sessions with the physical presence of the physiotherapist.

Who can get reimbursement?

In a first phase, reimbursement is limited to patients participating in the clinical study coordinated by UZ Gent and the KCE.

Once the required number of patients is reached, the reimbursement will be extended to all patients who are eligible for this support in their physiotherapy and who use a physiotherapist who has signed the agreement.

The hospitals participating in this study have signed the agreement. In order to be reimbursed, the participating physiotherapists must also have signed the agreement. Signing the agreement is part of the obliged e-learning project for physiotherapist organised by moveUP.

The first phase started on 1 October 2020. In this first phase, only patients with a knee or hip arthroplasty who are included in the KCE HTA C2020-1 study (i.e. 615 for knee arthroplasty and 396 for hip arthroplasty) and randomised to arm 2 or 3 within this agreement.

This means that, during the first phase, 410 patients who have undergone primary knee arthroplasty and 264 patients who have undergone primary hip arthroplasty are covered by this agreement.

Pseudo codes applicable during the convention

Link to the pseudo codes that can be used during the convention

Selection criteria for the study

Inclusion critera

Patients that:

  • undergoes one of the following interventions:
    • a primary unilateral unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA)
    • a primary bicompartmental knee arthroplasty (BKA)
    • a primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA)
    • a total hip arthroplasty (THA);
  • has access to the Internet during the pre- and postoperative period
  • is able to understand the services provided by the mobile application and to use the rehabilitation and to use the rehabilitation accessories to support the mobile application.

Exclusion criteria

  • another planned intervention within the first 3 months (for those entitled who are not included in study KCE HTA C2020 -11) or 6 months (for the entitled parties who are entitled parties who are included in the KCE HTA C2020 -1 study) after the reference surgery that has a significant impact on rehabilitation;
  • any significant medical condition (such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral vascular accident) as well as any peroperative or postoperative procedure that may have too great an impact on on the rehabilitation.

Resources

RIZIV has made an info page on the convention. It is available in Dutch and French.

Updated on March 4, 2021

Was this article helpful?

Related Articles

Still need help?