In 2021, the Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO) developed the APCO Framework – a set of Clinical Standards of Care for the screening, diagnosis, and management of osteoporosis. The Framework consists of a set of clear, concise, and pragmatic clinical standards that can be adapted to meet individual national requirements. Subsequently, in May 2022, APCO developed the world’s first Bone Health QI Toolkit that enables clinicians to undertake audits of their own practices and benchmark their practices against the gold standards of care advocated in the APCO Framework. The tool kit was structured to provide clear guidance to clinicians on implementing projects to improve the quality of care of their practices. Of the 16 standards of osteoporosis care advocated in the APCO Framework, seven can be directly implemented in the clinical setting and the Tool Kit focused on these 7 standards.

As a pilot project, APCO clinician members from several countries in the Asia Pacific unanimously agreed to implement audits in their respective centres focusing on two of the standards, viz standards 4 and 6. From the initial results and feedback received from the clinicians, APCO acknowledged the need to revamp the Bone Health QI toolkit to enable clinicians across the world to implement the audits in a more efficient and productive manner.

The following are the main changes that will be reflected in the new and revamped tool kit:

1. The audit questions have been completely rephrased to reflect actual clinical encounters and practice.
2. Recommendations on how an audit can be conducted in a medical centre or practice are now provided.
3. An automated calculator that will help generate results for the audit data that the centre /practice collects is now included within the EXCEL sheet.

The revamped Bone Health QI Toolkit for each clinical standard resource kit will include the following:

1. A slide deck that explains the clinical standard chosen, and instructions on how to conduct the audit and utilize the results generated.
2. A Word document that lists the audit questions.
3. An Excel file that can be used to input the raw data obtained from the audited patients. It also includes a findings tab which includes the results generated from the raw data entered.

APCO has also created a video to guide clinicians on how to navigate through the Bone Health QI Toolkit. The video is easily accessible on APCO’s YouTube page. You can also click here to view the video.

To gain access to the Bone Health QI toolkit, please register here.

To access the videos about the APCO Framework and its implementation in the Asia Pacifc region, please head to:

• The APCO Framework 
• The APCO Framework Animation
• Implementing the APCO Framework in Asia Pacific – through the eyes of its Chairperson
• Implementing The APCO Framework in the Asia Pacific – an IOF perspective
• Implementing The APCO Framework in Japan
• Implementing The APCO Framework in Pakistan