In July, we spoke at three workshops organised by Primary Care Commissioning which focussed on developing outcomes based indicators, and ensuring that we are measuring services against the right things when we contract for outcomes.
Our CEO Rupert and COO Juliana led two discussions as part of the day – one on developing the right outcomes and the second on creating the right indicators.
What are the right outcomes?
We covered the importance of engaging with patients to understand what matters to them, as well as addressing the frequent myth that outcomes are too difficult to define. We think that defining useful, meaningful and measurable outcomes is possible once you identify groups of people with similar needs, otherwise known as segmenting your population. And those outcomes are remarkably consistent across similar groups of people in different localities.
Creating the right indicators
Identifying existing indicators or creating new ones to better demonstrate improved outcomes is crucial. We discussed the different types of indicators (both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’), as well as techniques to match outcomes to existing PROMS.
Get in touch to find out more about our approach to defining and measuring outcomes.