Knee Replacement Rehabilitation Care Pathways

Conditions

• Knee Replacement, Total

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

18 Years - N/A

Healthy Volunteers

Not accepted

Interventions

• TKA Journey - patient education — BEHAVIORAL
  The investigators' team developed a new patient education booklet containing information that walks the patient through their TKA journey, from pre-operative to hospital-based rehabilitation prior to discharge, to outpatient physical therapy, and after discharge from formal physical therapy services. All patients in the intervention arm will receive this booklet from their surgeon's office and will receive a phone call from study personnel to review it and answer any questions.
• Optimized Rehab Scheduling — OTHER
  For all patients in the 'intervention' practice, the home health referral will include instructions for the home health physical therapist to assist the patient with scheduling their first outpatient physical therapy session, to avoid unnecessary gaps in care between home health discharge and outpatient physical therapy evaluation.
• Usual Rehab — BEHAVIORAL
  Participants in the usual rehab group will continue to follow the current standard-of-care rehabilitation pathway for patients post-TKA.

Study Details

Previous research has shown that use of rehabilitation (including physical therapy) and the recovery of function after knee replacement surgery may differ depending on patients' race, sex, income or insurance, and geographic location. In this study, the investigators will develop and test a new care pathway for knee replacement rehabilitation that is designed to maximize functional recovery for all patients and reduce differences between different groups of patients. Findings from this project will lead to improved rehabilitation quality after knee replacement surgery.

Key Dates

Start date

Sep 1, 2026

Status verified

May 2026

Primary completion

Mar 31, 2027

Completion

Jun 30, 2027

Study Design

Enrollment

275 participants (estimated)

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Arms

• Active Comparator: Control - Usual Rehab
  Participants in the 'control' practice will receive post-TKA rehabilitation according to the current usual pathway. This typically involves discharge to home on post-operative day 0 or 1, followed by 5 visits of home health physical therapy, followed by outpatient physical therapy at a frequency and duration deemed appropriate by the care team.
• Experimental: Intervention - Optimized Rehab
  Participants receiving TKA in the 'intervention' practice will be guided by clinical staff to follow the new "optimized" pathway. The progression from inpatient to home health to outpatient physical therapy will remain the same, but with the addition of the interventions described below.

Primary Outcome Measure

Patient Satisfaction [ Time Frame: 3 months post-TKA surgery ]

Central Contacts

• Allyn M Bove, DPT, PhD
  412-624-9255
  [email protected]

Locations (1)

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