HEALTHSPAN®

Health systems around the world are largely set-up to focus on treating people once they have started to become unwell, and prolonging life. In other words, treating illness and increasing lifespan.

But what good is living longer, if those years added are in poor health or without a good quality of life?

If we are so focused on increasing how long we live, should we not also focus equal effort on increasing how long we live in good health?

At Outcomes Based Healthcare® we care deeply about improving people’s lives and developing ways in which health systems, like the NHS, can refocus on what matters most to people.

That is why we’ve developed HealthSpan®, a suite of related measures that can show whether people are in good health, and for what portion of their lives. In other words, measuring a population’s healthy lifespan®.

In February 2020, OBH contributed to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity’s report: ‘The Health of the Nation’ – A National Strategy for Healthier Longer Lives, which sets out a strategy in order to meet the government’s mission of five extra healthy years by 2035, ensuring a renewed focus on the prevention of ill-health.

A commentary recently published in The Lancet describes this report, including OBH’s related analysis using HealthSpan®.

IMPROVING HEALTHY LIFESPAN®

It’s now absolutely essential that health systems measure and monitor data on healthy life span, or more simply, HEALTHSPAN. Systems can use this information to understand their HEALTHSPAN, commit to improving how long people stay in good health, and how they will achieve these improvements. This will ensure we have a financially stable and sustainable health and care system in the future.

Arguably the most important outcome which is not routinely measured for whole populations, is the age when people first enter a period of poor health in their lives! HEALTHSPAN is a vital emerging outcome for health systems who are integrating care, building population health management solutions. Specifically, this means planning, paying for and delivering healthcare services around improving healthy lifespans.