Conducting clinical and health economic outcome studies in an ambulatory setting

Increasingly, health care practitioners are addressing economic (health care resource utilization) and nonclinical (patient satisfaction and quality of life) outcomes along with traditional clinical outcomes (morbidities, mortalities, cure rates, etc.) in assessing the impact and quality of care provided to their patients. These additional outcomes also are collected to assist health care providers to meet accreditation standards and to aid in the selection of alternative health care interventions in an environment of limited resources. This article reviews the advantages and disadvantages of assessing both clinical and nonclinical outcomes. A review of key questions that health economic and outcome studies should answer is provided. In addition, relevant resource utilization and outcome measures are identified based on a variety of provider/payer perspectives. Finally, a framework to develop a strategic operating plan for measuring and valuing outcome measures in an ambulatory setting is presented.