The study specifically looked at patients who were considering hip and knee replacements. When researchers provided decision aids to patients — in this instance, joint disorder aids included recommendations to lose weight, increase physical activity and take medications for treating osteoarthritis — there were 26 percent fewer hip replacement surgeries and 38 percent fewer knee replacement surgeries.
Costs were also lowered by up to 21 percent over six months. According to a Kaiser Health News report, patients with hip osteoarthritis who used decision aids had a total treatment cost of $13,489 — an 18.5 percent decrease from the control group, which had a cost of $16,557.
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