Using Patient Reported Outcomes to Improve Health Care

A patient–reported outcome (PRO) draws on patients answers to a series of questions in order to quantify their views on their own health. The purpose of PROs is to get patients? own assessment of their health and health–related quality of life. The aim of this new title is to provoke and encourage thinking about the wide range of ways in which PRO data, routinely collected in the context of health service delivery, can be used to inform decisions, for example;  What opportunities do these data present? What are the limitations of PROs, and what are the possible pitfalls in the use and interpretation of data produced from them? What work needs to be done in order to get the most out of PRO data? What have been the experiences of the English NHS with its PROs programme and what can other health systems learn? Using Patient Reported Outcomes to Improve Health Care provides an overview and explanation of PRO instruments and how PROs data might be used by patients in choosing both where to receive treatment, and also what treatment is best for them. Throughout this book, and drawing on international examples, the Authors consider ways in which the collected data can be used to transform decision–making in healthcare organisations, by those who commission health care and assess value for money, and also how data can be used to benchmark and improve clinical performance. The authors also discuss how clinicians on a more day to day level might use data to guide referral practices, ensuring that the people who receive health care are those that will benefit from it the most. This new title is the only resource to exclusively introduce, explain and show how PROs can be best used to improve healthcare and patient outcomes.  Includes real life examples and case studies of PROs in practice Assesses the growing evidence base for PROs in practice Editor team from Office of Health Economics (OHE), The King?s Fund and King s College London with contributions from practising clinicians, GPs and other healthcare professionals