The information imperative of outcomes management

Health care providers are being asked to collect, analyze, and evaluate the results of medical processes or procedures to improve the outcome of health care services. The linkage of process to outcome is not a new science, but it has assumed greater importance in today's health care economic climate. Medical effectiveness and outcomes management studies, once within the purview of health services investigators, are moving to the individual provider setting. This evolution has tremendous impact on health information management professionals. As the guardians of the data that are indispensable for medical effectiveness and outcomes management investigations, health information management professionals play a key role in caregivers' attempts to correlate process and outcome performance measures. The article discusses the historical origins of outcomes management, the prominence of outcomes management in health care reform activities, and the responsibilities of health information management professionals in these strategic initiatives.