Transitioning Towards Quality-of-Care Assessment in Orthotics and Prosthetics Practice

Quality of care is fundamental for achieving optimal patient outcomes, enhancing patient experiences, and engaging in improvement practices. Quality of care comprises 6 domains: safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity. Despite robust frameworks guiding quality measurement in other health care fields, orthotics and prosthetics (O&P) rehabilitation lags in adopting these practices. As quality-of-care measures become more prevalent, particularly as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to shift to value-based care by 2030, the urgency to establish measures in O&P increases. Establishing specific evidence-based quality measures in O&P empowers the profession to define appropriate standards, helping to ensure that care remains tailored to patients' needs and produces optimal outcomes-while minimizing the risk of inappropriate, externally imposed benchmarks. Several key groups across the care continuum are highlighted in this article, because they will be responsible for transitioning toward quality-of-care assessment in O&P care: leaders in O&P organizations, researchers, manufacturers, clinic owners, clinicians, patients, and educators. When each group fulfills its responsibilities, it strengthens overall quality and enhances the value of care provided. This special communication highlights the imperative of incorporating quality-of-care measurement into O&P practice across each key group and calls for research to define meaningful measures, establish standardized indicators, and implement systems for quality improvement. This article provides a comprehensive perspective to inform and educate each key group in quality-of-care concepts to foster improvement efforts in O&P.