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"There is great potential for CHORP's research findings to provide patients, providers and policy makers with the evidence they need to make informed healthcare decisions."

Steven M. Witz, Ph.D., MPH
Director, Regenstrief Center


What Is Health Outcomes Research?
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The 'aging' of the U.S. population and rapid growth in health spending raises many concerns about the sustainability of our healthcare system, particularly longer-term affordability of Medicare and Medicaid programs (1). Healthcare spending is projected to account for 20 percent of the Gross Domestic Product by 2015 (2). Health outcomes research has become key to developing better ways to monitor and improve care quality by linking the care that people receive with the outcomes they experience.

Health outcomes research looks beyond the physiological measures of healthcare interventions to examine the effect of the health care processes on patients and populations. It is a multidisciplinary and collaborative science that:

  • Studies variation in practice patterns,
  • Determines which treatment options work best for different people,
  • Develops criteria for when certain procedures should or should not be performed,
  • Identifies patient preferences when multiple treatment options are available, and
  • Develops tools to measure changes in health status and patient satisfaction with health care processes (3).

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality describes the importance of outcomes research for policy development in its statement that “outcomes research provides policy makers with tools to monitor and improve quality" (4).

Sources
(1) Snapshots: Health Care Costs, “Comparing Project Growth in Health Care Expenditures and the Economy. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. May 2006. http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/chcm050206oth2.cfm.
(2) Borger B, et al. Health Spending Projection through 2015: Changes on the Horizon. Health Affairs 25 (2006) w61-w73. DOI 10.1377/hlthaff.25.w61.
(3) Health Outcomes Core Library Project, Order No. P.O. 467-MZ-301222, July 14, 2004. http://www.academyhealth.org/publications/healthoutcomesreport.htm.
(4) Outcomes Research. Fact Sheet. AHRQ Publication Mo. ))-P011, March 2000. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.bov/clinic/outfact.htm.