Elderly Hip Fracture roundtable held in Beijing

On January 13, 2021, a roundtable meeting for hip fracture management in the elderly, organized by Beijing Jishuitan Hospital was successfully held in Beijing.

At the beginning of the meeting, Professor Wu Xinbao, Vice-President of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, and Professor Zhang Wenbao, Director of the Medical Management Division, Bureau of Medical Administration, National Health Commission of the People′s Republic of China, extended a warm welcome to participants and emphasized the importance of seeking out measures to deal with hip fracture in the elderly.

During the meeting, Ye Pengpeng, a doctoral candidate from The George Institute China, and a researcher at the National Center for Chronic and Noncommunicable Disease Control and Prevention under the direct jurisdiction of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Wang Shengfeng, Associate researcher at the School of Public Health of Peking University, respectively shared information on the current epidemiology of injuries and the medical expenditure burden of hip fracture in the elderly.

Data projections indicate that as the aging of population intensifies, falls will become the leading cause of injury and death for those people aged 65 and above in China. Falls in the elderly are often combined with some degree of injury, ranging from soft tissue lesions, joint dislocation, fracture and craniocerebral trauma, but hip fracture is the most serious consequence. Appropriate management of a hip fracture can reduce postoperative mortality and improve the process of rehabilitation recovery. However, there is still no official guideline for appropriate management of hip fracture in the elderly in China.

In view of this situation, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital and The George Institute China have been conducting a series of scientific studies over the last several years to clarify the current situation of hip fracture management in the elderly.  This forms the basis of a study to assess the implementation and evaluation of a standard care package of multidisciplinary collaborative joint orthopedics-geriatrics management.

Yang Minghui, Chief Physician of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, and Dr. Tian Maoyi from The George Institute China, respectively demonstrated the background, process and significance of establishing joint management model  for hip fracture in the elderly, as well as the relevant scientific study results and data visualization. Based on the scientific study results, they proposed to promote the electronic registration database of hip fracture in the elderly, take hip fracture in the elderly as a type of disease subject to payment reform in the disease-based payment system reform pilot, and conduct a wider range of clinical studies.

Subsequently, the participants had a lively discussion on the promotion of joint management model, the feasibility of establishing a big data platform to facilitate the improvement of clinical quality, and the system construction on integration between medical treatment and prevention for hip fracture in the elderly.

Finally, Wu Xinbao concluded by saying "we are glad this roundtable meeting has provided great communication and discussion amongst experts from a wide range of disciplines. We do hope that the in-depth discussion will help to promote further work on hip fracture in the elderly, with the ultimate goal of influencing policies over the prevention and control of chronic diseases and injuries to improve the health of Chinese people."