Twelve questions to ask about your outcomes monitoring system--Part II

Commercial and customized outcomes monitoring systems designed to assess the results of care, whether clinical outcomes or resource use, are not all of equal value or equally appropriate for every use. In creating each system, its developers had to make critical decisions about such matters as definitions of outcomes for study, selection of patients, selection of data elements, methods and timing of data collection, and method of analysis and reporting. Each system represents a unique set of choices that were made. This series of two articles presents answers to 12 questions that will help users understand the basic workings of an outcomes monitoring system--to be able to distinguish good systems from the mediocre and the bad, and to make wise use of a system already in operation. In addition to the six questions presented in the April 1994 issue of Physician Executive, the following six questions are of critical importance in determining a system's value to you and your organization.