Outcomes management programmes
A clinical outcome is the result of a medical or surgical intervention or non-intervention. Outcomes research seeks to measure the end results of these interventions.
Outcomes studies are ideally conducted prospectively, on a large scale, and in an open, naturalistic environment. Clinical trials have not been appropriate for this purpose as they are controlled experiments in a closed population.
Outcomes studies provide valuable information about how a product or procedure performs in a real-world setting within a diverse population. Outcomes generated by outcomes studies offer an unparalleled opportunity for detailing the benefits of a product or procedure.
Outcomes management programmes are typically open-ended and are conducted through the creation of a patient outcomes registry that enables ongoing recruitment. Due to changing treatments, and the changing needs of the registry population, these programmes are designed to improve iteratively.
The importance of measuring outcomes
The need
There is an increasing focus in the healthcare industry to investigate real-world health outcomes.
A number of factors have driven this trend, including increased focus on the cost-effectiveness of therapeutic interventions, and on the quality of care provided by healthcare organisations.
Outcomes measurement enables pharmaceutical and medical device companies to compile health economic evidence to submit to governmental and regulatory bodies. In the UK, a specific body, the National Institute of Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE), has been setup to address the quality and cost-effectiveness of service provision. Its guidance has an increasing European and International audience.
The collection of outcomes data also provides industry with marketing and product opportunities. The information it provides forms a foundation for:
- Eliminating poor and promoting good practice
- Increasing accountability of services
- Empowering consumers and involving them in service evaluation
- Evaluating new services
- Prioritising resource allocation
- Setting, monitoring and improving standards of care
Outcome Technologies
Our programmes typically focus on understanding and maximizing patient and healthcare professional outcomes. The services we provide include:
- Design of naturalistic outcomes studies
- Implementation
- Data collation and management
- Data analysis and reporting
Patient reported outcomes (such as quality of life, treatment satisfaction, and work productivity) demonstrate the impact of a disorder, as well as the value of new treatments.
Patient registries are an increasingly important research tool that addresses the growing need for clinical, quality of life, and health economic data. Registries can serve multiple purposes such as:
- Patient education
- Clinical evaluation
- Acceptance
- Surveillance
The benefits
Depending on the nature of the programme, outcomes studies can help clients with:
- Health economic submissions to regulatory and government bodies (such as NICE) for appraisal and health economic evaluation.
- Understanding a market place to benefit clinical practice. The naturalistic, longitudinal nature of an outcomes study or registry enables examination of current clinical practice, and can enable more careful and accurate product positioning both pre- and post-launch.
- Envisaging future practice, where new technologies are introduced and adopted as others are removed from the clinical sphere. Such a changing environment impacts current and future products.
- Sub-group analyses of data with statistical significance. Such results enable targeted marketing or product development.
If you would like to know more about our outcomes programmes, please contact us at:
outcomes@outcometechnologies.com.
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