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Health Care Authority certifies decision aids for knee or hip surgery

Today the HCA announced that its review of patient decision aids (PDAs) for joint replacement or spinal care led to certification of four decision aids. These certified aids will assist people with hip or knee osteoarthritis who are considering joint replacement surgery.

“These decision aids are a step toward helping more people make health decisions with their provider and enjoy better outcomes as a result,” said Dr. Daniel Lessler, HCA’s chief medical officer. “We know from the evidence that when patients are engaged and active in health decisions, they will have better experiences within the health care delivery system and are likely to have improved outcomes.”

Read today’s announcement.

Decision aids support health literacy and are part of the shared decision making initiative under Healthier Washington. Shared decision making is a process in which clinicians and patients work together to make decisions and select tests, treatments and care plans based on clinical evidence. The discussion is designed to balance risks and expected outcomes with a patient’s preferences and values. PDAs are a tool for shared decision making.

Washington is a leader in promoting shared decision making and is the only state in the U.S. to develop a process to certify PDAs.

Resources

• More about shared decision making
• Learn about the certification process
• Hear Oct 4. webinar recording on shared decision making

The project described was supported by Funding Opportunity Number CMS-1G1-14-001 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The contents provided are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of HHS or any of its agencies.