Artificial intelligence and the future of patient-centered outcomes

Terheyden et al. recently described a compelling vision for large language model-enabled patient-reported outcome measures (LLM-PROMs).

We support Terheyden et al.'s vision and offer complementary observations about the potential for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in assessing patient-centered outcomes. GenAI has the potential to improve the quality and efficiency of developing traditional PROMs and collecting patient experience data. Traditional PROMs rely on standardized questions and responses, which may introduce ambiguity about the health concept being assessed. Yet, interviewers who are trained in the meaning of the concepts can tailor questions to the respondent's experience and conversation style and have a back-and-forth clarification of meaning to ensure that both the interviewer's and respondent's meanings are aligned. The shortcoming of this approach is that it cannot be done at scale with human interviewers. However, trained GenAI interviewers could make such an assessment a reality for large samples of patients. The technology is already available to train GenAI interviewers in interview technique, the intent of each item, and a consistent approach toward coding the respondent's answer based on the conversation.

The health outcomes research field should actively inquire into what patient experience data can be collected via GenAI and rigorously evaluate the quality of the assessments obtained.