Impact of the guidance on fracture Liaison Services and the introduction of a new fee for secondary fracture prevention in Japan: Implementation of secondary fracture prevention during hospitalization for fragility fractures

In Japan, the publication of the Fracture Liaison Service Clinical Standard (FLS-CS) had no apparent effect on the implementation of secondary fracture prevention, but the introduction of a new management fee for secondary fracture prevention significantly promoted the implementation of secondary fracture prevention for the target disease.

Background: Secondary fracture prevention is important for managing fragility fractures. In Japan, the FLS-CS was published in 2019, alongside the introduction of a new management fee for secondary fracture prevention, launched in 2022 for patients who underwent surgery for hip fracture. FLS programs were hospital-based. This study evaluated the impact of these interventions on the implementation of secondary fracture prevention during hospitalization for fragility fractures.

Methods: Using claims data from the Quality Indicator/Improvement Project database, patients aged 50 years or older with hip fracture who underwent surgery or with vertebral fractures were included. The publication of FLS-CS was the first intervention, followed by the introduction of the management fee as the second intervention. To evaluate the impact of these interventions, we performed an interrupted time series analysis separately for hip and vertebral fractures.

Results: For hip fractures, there was no immediate change after the first intervention, and the monthly rate of change decreased (incidence rate ratio [IRR]: 0.985, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.979-0.991). After the second intervention, there was an immediate increase (IRR: 1.890, 1.761-2.029), and the monthly rate of change also increased (IRR: 1.050, 1.044-1.056). For vertebral fractures, the proportion of change increased only immediately after the second intervention (IRR: 1.148, 1.038-1.270).

Conclusion: The publication of FLS-CS had no apparent effect on the implementation of secondary fracture prevention in patients with either hip or vertebral fractures. Conversely, the introduction of the management fee had the effect of increasing that for the target disease.