Marshfield Clinic Health System Partners with Force Therapeutics to Improve Orthopedic Care

Digital care platform will help rural IDN improve care access, scale same-day surgery, and leverage robust data analytics

NEW YORK, July 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Force Therapeutics announced that Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS), an integrated delivery network in Wisconsin, has selected its digital care management platform to improve access to care, reduce cost and quality variation, and increase patient-reported outcomes collection. Force's provider-driven platform uses customized care paths and virtual education and physical therapy to engage orthopedic patients in an effective journey.

MCHS is one of the largest private group medical practices in the country, with 11 hospitals, 60+ Marshfield Clinic locations, and more than 1,600 providers serving predominantly rural communities across Wisconsin. The Force platform will help MCHS orthopedic surgeons extend their reach by connecting joint replacement patients to their care teams via remote monitoring and messaging tools. Real-time status updates will help clinicians track patient progress, enabling proactive outreach to those who require extra support, education, or care plan modification.

MCHS is a leader in rural healthcare, and the Force platform's virtual preoperative education and physical therapy care plans support its goal of providing access to high-quality care where and when patients need it. This technology also saves patients co-pays and transportation costs, as it reduces the need for in-person appointments.

"With the Force platform, our patients will be able to stay connected to us both before and after surgery, streamlining their care experience," said Dr. David Simenstad, orthopedic surgery specialist and chief of orthopedics at Marshfield Clinic Health System. "Automated patient-reported outcomes collection, registry submission, and data analytics will help us scale our staff and grow our orthopedic program." 

The influx of hospital admissions during the pandemic has contributed to limited inpatient capacity at MCHS facilities, which has in turn increased its percentage of outpatient surgeries. MCHS will rely on the Force Therapeutics platform to scale its same-day discharge program, streamlining the preoperative education process and increasing administrative efficiency. The platform identifies at-risk patients for targeted interventions to help nurse navigators effectively scale their workloads, a necessity given the current national staffing crisis.

"After launching the platform with our total joint replacement surgeons, we expect to expand its use for subspecialties such as spinal procedures and sports medicine, and eventually to the remainder of our musculoskeletal services," said Jeron Jackson, service line administrator for oncology and musculoskeletal services at Marshfield Clinic Health System. "The enhanced efficiencies that digital care management brings will increase the case volume that our programs can successfully accommodate."

In the coming months, MCHS plans to pursue advanced accreditation with The Joint Commission. The Force platform will help MCHS with the collection and automatic submission of validated, statistically significant patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) to demonstrate its compliance with quality standards.

Throughout an episode of care, the Force platform collects short- and long-term PROMs, as well as hundreds of discrete data points on patients' range of motion, pain score, and exercise adherence. By pushing out PROMs forms via texts or emails featuring an encrypted, no-password link, the platform helps clients collect an average 89% of preoperative PROMs and 88% of postoperative PROMs. Providing a "matched set" of outcomes data collected both before and after a patient's surgery is critical for registries that require assessment of the complete care experience.

"We look forward to a rewarding partnership with Marshfield Clinic Health System as it continues to refine the efficiency of high-value orthopedic care," said Bronwyn Spira, founder and CEO of Force Therapeutics. "By implementing digital care management technology, MCHS will be able to streamline its same-day discharge program and ensure that all patients, regardless of their location or length of stay, are empowered to be active participants in their recovery."

Founded in 2010, Force Therapeutics is the leading patient engagement platform designed to help clinicians intelligently extend their reach. The Force platform leverages video and digital connections to directly engage patients at every step of the care journey – from the point of surgery scheduling to post-op recovery and beyond. Backed by millions of clinically validated patient data points and insights from more than 70 leading healthcare centers across the country, Force Therapeutics is proven to drive more effective recovery, lower costs, and improve patient outcomes and satisfaction.

Media Contact:
Jessica Smith
Amendola Communications for Force Therapeutics
[email protected]

SOURCE Force Therapeutics