RXWell to Decrease Post-Operative Opioid Use in Total Knee or Hip Arthroplasty

The content of the digital behavioral tool was developed based on standard Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques. An additional layer of support includes a behavioral health coach who provides guidance and motivation throughout the use of the app via in-app text messaging.

This approach has already been tested at UPMC on multiple adult clinical populations. This project represents the first pilot of the digital behavioral tool with perioperative patients

The digital behavioral tool can provide a resource gap by providing preventive mental health services to promote mental health wellness for patients to help reduce the deleterious impact of established mood disorders on recovery following primary total knee replacements including:

• pain and opioid requirement,
• functional recovery,
• decrease complications, and
• reduce resources utilization such as hospital length of stay, postoperative need for visits and the use of rehabilitation.

• Determine the feasibility of using RxWell for patients undergoing elective surgery who have mood disorder symptoms using MyUPMC platform and established either at the time of visiting the Center for Perioperative Care (CPC) either in-person or via anesthesia telemedicine services (ATS) in a tertiary care system.
• Determine the impact of RxWell-associated improvements in anxiety, depression, and catastrophizing on postoperative outcomes with a special focus on resources utilization.

Subjects who choose to sign electronically will be provided a link via email for REDCap. This link will include an electronic consent document and the ability to sign with a computer cursor, stylus, or their finger depending on the device the subject uses to access this link.

Inclusion criteria

for the RXWell Study:

• Adults >18 years
• Scheduled for elective primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or hip replacement (THA) at the approved UPMC hospitals
• Moderately high levels of mood disorder symptoms on validated PROMIS measures, defined as a T-score > or = to 60 on PROMIS Anxiety 4a short form and/or PROMIS Depression4a short form

Exclusion criteria

for the RXWell Study:

• Patients undergoing non-elective surgery or secondary arthroplasty
• Active delirium, neurocognitive impairment, or severe intellectual disability
• No access to a smart device (phone or tablet)
• Active alcoholism (defined as daily use of more than 1 liter of wine and /or 3 or more shots of hard liquor) or drug abuse (defined as daily use of illicit drugs)
• Profound mood disorders requiring immediate intervention such as suicidal ideation, defined as a PROMIS Depression score of more than 70
• A PROMIS Anxiety and/or Depression T-score >70, which corresponds to severe anxiety and depression.

• Patients needing immediate care will be referred to psychiatrists and primary team.