Three-year Progress Report of Bone Health TeleECHO Moscow: a Strategy to Improve the Care of Patients with Osteoporosis and Other Metabolic Skeletal Diseases in Underserved Communities of Russia

Introduction: Bone Health TeleECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Moscow is the first Russian-speaking ECHO program, modeled after Bone Health TeleECHO at the University of New Mexico, USA. The bone ECHO programs are designed to expand the capacity to deliver best practice skeletal healthcare worldwide through ongoing technology-enabled case-based collaborative learning. To evaluate the impact of the first 3 years of Bone Health TeleECHO Moscow on physicians' knowledge in the management of bone diseases.

Methods: Demographic data were obtained, and outcomes were assessed through an electronic blinded self-efficacy questionnaire focusing on competence and skills in 20 domains of osteoporosis care before and after each year of participation in the Bone Health TeleECHO Moscow.

Results: Over 3 years, a total of 296 participants completed the questionnaire. Average attendance for each monthly session increased from 64 in 2019 to 73 in 2020 and to 96 in 2021. Participants were from all regions of Russia and Russian-speaking countries. The mean age of respondents was 43 years with the youngest being 23 and the eldest 74. The most common participants' primary specialties were endocrinology (n = 263), gynecology (n = 20), orthopedics (n = 3), and other (n = 10). All of our participants were physicians, including 73 MD PhDs. This educational intervention was associated with a statistically significant improvement in each of the 20 domains of osteoporosis care, with an effect size of 0.87 (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Bone Health TeleECHO is effective at improving clinicians' skills in the management of osteoporosis based on self-evaluation over 3 years.