The National Quality Forum's new report examines a wealth of broad feedback from thousands of patients to create patient-reported outcomes to inform healthcare quality measures.
For NQF's report, the online patient network and research platform PatientsLikeMe analyzed data and feedback from 51,000 members with multiple sclerosis, 2,500 members with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 10,000 members with rheumatoid arthritis. Patient feedback indicated that current tools for collecting patient-reported outcomes do not include language patients would use in the real world to describe their symptoms, highlighting an opportunity for quality measure improvement.
"We need to focus on the issues that are most important to patients," said Shantanu Agrawal, MD, president and CEO of NQF. "This approach, drawing on the experience of thousands of patients engaged through the PatientsLikeMe community, is a huge step forward to amplify the patient voice to improve healthcare quality."
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