MSK decision support for insurers.
What an MSK tool for insurers does
For a health insurer, an employee health scheme or an occupational health provider, an MSK tool is useful if it improves one decision above all: whether and when a musculoskeletal case needs a surgeon. Almost everything that follows, the scans, the specialist appointments, the time off work, flows from that decision.
Orwyn gives the clinical team making that decision a consultant surgeon's written judgement, at the moment they make it.
The decision that drives the journey
Musculoskeletal care often runs in steps: physiotherapy, then a scan, then a specialist. Each step is reasonable on its own. The cost comes when the steps run in the wrong order, in either direction. In the NHS, NHS England reports that almost a third of patients seen at a first trauma and orthopaedic outpatient appointment in 2019/20 were discharged after that first visit.
The other direction costs too, though it is rarely counted: a person who needed a surgeon early spends months in treatment that was never going to work, and returns to work later than they should have.
A surgeon's judgement, written down
Consistent decisions
The same case gets the same reasoning, whichever clinician on the team sees it, because the rules are written, versioned and dated.
Reasons you can audit
Every suggestion shows why, and traces to published evidence, so a decision can be reviewed after the event.
Both directions
Orwyn looks for the case that needs a surgeon sooner as carefully as the case that does not need one at all, and asks about urgent problems first.
Honest about the stage
Orwyn is currently being assessed for an NHS pilot to test its safety, clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness.
Most tools built for MSK triage aim to keep people out of hospital. Orwyn helps the clinician decide when a patient should go in, when they should not, and gives the clinician and the patient a reason to trust the answer.
If you run clinical services for an insurer, an employee health scheme or an occupational health provider and want to understand how Orwyn could work with your team, get in touch.
Where to read more
Musculoskeletal orthopaedic approach to referral optimisation, NHS England.
Musculoskeletal health: best practice solutions, NHS England. Read it here.
Surgeon-governed decision support for first-contact MSK clinicians.