Michael Barbella, Managing Editor11.09.22
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. is touting one-year data from a multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of mymobility with Apple Watch, a first-of-its-kind remote care management platform. The data show that using mymobility with Apple Watch following primary knee arthroplasty, commonly known as knee replacement, can effectively guide rehabilitation, demonstrate similar outcomes to traditional care models, and significantly reduce the number of outpatient physical therapy (PT) visits. In addition, use of mymobility with Apple Watch was associated with significantly fewer surgery-related emergency department (ED) visits, which could translate to lower costs of care.*
"We're encouraged to find that positive early results from our 90-day analysis were sustained at the one-year follow up and continue to reinforce that a mymobility-based remote care regimen could yield comparable patient outcomes and potentially require fewer healthcare resources than a traditional care model," said David A. Crawford, M.D., one of the study's lead investigators and a joint replacement specialist at JIS Orthopedics in New Albany, Ohio. "With smartphone-based remote care, patients tend to be more actively engaged in their recovery through access to real-time data to track their progress, and with the ability to communicate with their care teams more easily through messaging and virtual visits. In the study, these benefits may have contributed to lower utilization of healthcare resources, which can result in cost savings per episode of care."
The data evaluated 401 patients who underwent total or partial knee arthroplasty. Patients were randomized to a mymobility with Apple Watch exercise and educational platform group, or a control group who received traditional care. Among the outcomes assessed at the one-year follow-up were Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, Joint Replacement (KOOS, JR), PT visits, readmissions, and ED/urgent care (UC) visits.
Key data findings include:
mymobility with Apple Watch and iPhone acts as a virtual care team member by providing patients with support and guidance at the direction of their healthcare professional as they prepare for and recover from orthopedic procedures from their home. For patients who have a compatible smartphone, and who are clinically suited for remote care, mymobility leverages the powerful sensors on Apple Watch and iPhone to measure a patient's activity (e.g., number of steps, walking asymmetry, walking speed, flights of stairs) and post-operative progress. mymobility with Apple Watch also enables virtual connections between patients and healthcare professionals throughout the surgical episode of care, with the goal of lowering the overall cost of care. Pre- and post-operative data collected by mymobility with Apple Watch can also be combined with intra-operative data from patients who undergo joint replacement with ROSA Robotics and is then seamlessly consolidated and analyzed to uncover new clinical insights throughout the episode of care and to help surgeons and care teams make informed patient care decisions.
Zimmer Biomet is a global medical technology leader with a portfolio designed to maximize mobility and improve health. Its products and suite of integrated digital and robotic technologies leverage data, data analytics and artificial intelligence.
"We're encouraged to find that positive early results from our 90-day analysis were sustained at the one-year follow up and continue to reinforce that a mymobility-based remote care regimen could yield comparable patient outcomes and potentially require fewer healthcare resources than a traditional care model," said David A. Crawford, M.D., one of the study's lead investigators and a joint replacement specialist at JIS Orthopedics in New Albany, Ohio. "With smartphone-based remote care, patients tend to be more actively engaged in their recovery through access to real-time data to track their progress, and with the ability to communicate with their care teams more easily through messaging and virtual visits. In the study, these benefits may have contributed to lower utilization of healthcare resources, which can result in cost savings per episode of care."
The data evaluated 401 patients who underwent total or partial knee arthroplasty. Patients were randomized to a mymobility with Apple Watch exercise and educational platform group, or a control group who received traditional care. Among the outcomes assessed at the one-year follow-up were Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, Joint Replacement (KOOS, JR), PT visits, readmissions, and ED/urgent care (UC) visits.
Key data findings include:
- Patients in the mymobility with Apple Watch group who did not require adjunct PT had significantly higher KOOS, JR scores compared to controls at one year post-operatively (89.3±11.3 vs 83.8±14.6, p=0.02).
- Significantly fewer patients in the mymobility with Apple Watch group required post-operative physical therapy (60.6% vs. 94.6%, p<0.001).
- Overall KOOS, JR scores were similar between control group and mymobility with Apple Watch group at one year (83.8±14.6 vs 84.1 ±14.0, p=0.88).
- The change in KOOS, JR scores from pre-operative levels were similar at one year for the control group and the mymobility with Apple Watch group (32.1±17.4 vs 31.5±17.1 points, p=0.51).
- Significantly fewer patients in the mymobility with Apple Watch group utilized surgery-related ED/UC care compared to the control group (1.3% vs 5.4%, p=0.03).
- Similar rates of readmission were observed between the mymobility with Apple Watch group and the control group (3.8% vs 2.1%, p=0.36).
mymobility with Apple Watch and iPhone acts as a virtual care team member by providing patients with support and guidance at the direction of their healthcare professional as they prepare for and recover from orthopedic procedures from their home. For patients who have a compatible smartphone, and who are clinically suited for remote care, mymobility leverages the powerful sensors on Apple Watch and iPhone to measure a patient's activity (e.g., number of steps, walking asymmetry, walking speed, flights of stairs) and post-operative progress. mymobility with Apple Watch also enables virtual connections between patients and healthcare professionals throughout the surgical episode of care, with the goal of lowering the overall cost of care. Pre- and post-operative data collected by mymobility with Apple Watch can also be combined with intra-operative data from patients who undergo joint replacement with ROSA Robotics and is then seamlessly consolidated and analyzed to uncover new clinical insights throughout the episode of care and to help surgeons and care teams make informed patient care decisions.
Zimmer Biomet is a global medical technology leader with a portfolio designed to maximize mobility and improve health. Its products and suite of integrated digital and robotic technologies leverage data, data analytics and artificial intelligence.