Health-related outcomes management: moving forward standing still

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Healthcare Administration
• Outcomes Management

Background:

• Increasing economic and political pressures drive healthcare administrator and professional focus on health-related outcomes management.
• Outcomes in healthcare are categorized into administrative, economic, and clinical realms.
• Despite literature emphasis on measuring and using outcome data for decision-making, significant progress in outcomes management is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the limited progress in the science and art of outcomes management.
• To examine the current state of outcome concepts, measurement, collection, and evaluation.
• To propose strategies for advancing the conceptualization and operationalization of outcomes management.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and conceptual analysis of outcomes management.
• Focus on the current state of outcome concepts, measurement, data collection, and evaluation.
• Development of strategies for improving outcomes management processes.

Main Results:

• Little progress has been made in the science and art of outcomes management.
• Integrating the science and art into systematic outcomes management processes has had limited success.
• The current state of outcome concepts, measurement, collection, and evaluation is suboptimal.

Conclusions:

• There is a critical need to advance both the science and practice of healthcare outcomes management.
• Systematic strategies are required to improve the conceptualization and operationalization of outcomes management.
• Further research and implementation efforts are necessary to effectively utilize outcome data for healthcare improvement.