VAMOS Research Meeting: "Exercise and Lifestyle Modifications for Patients with PAD in a Community Based Setting: Scaling a Nationwide Network in the Netherlands"

Biography

Professor Joep Teijink is a vascular surgeon at the cardiovascular center of Catharinaziekenhuis in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He has a special interest in thoracic outlet syndrome and a ‘stepped care’ approach for patients with intermittent claudication (IC).

His inaugural lecture was aptly entitled: 'Together we are strong: Towards integrated care for patients with peripheral arterial disease'. In 2010, he took the initiative for establishing the ClaudicatioNet Foundation, a nationwide network of approximately 1,800 specially trained physiotherapists (claudication therapists). He proposed for many years that supervised exercise therapy and lifestyle adaptation for patients suffering from IC should be introduced on a larger scale. This better approach for the individual patient could save 33 million euros per year, as calculated in a Budget Impact Analysis. To achieve this, the image of the therapy had to be improved amongst primary and secondary healthcare providers and the costs of the therapy must be reimbursed in full.