OVERVIEW OF OUTCOMES RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT AND ITS ROLE IN ONCOLOGYPRACTICE

Outcomes assessment describes a variety of activities, including class ic clinical trials with quality of life and cost endpoints, observatio nal studies examining the outcomes of treatment in the course of routi ne clinical care, and the process of managing patterns of care in clin ical practice. These activities share important common features, inclu ding an emphasis on quality of life and economic outcomes, an explicit consideration of the importance of patient characteristics in determi ning outcomes, and a broad definition of what constitutes cancer care. The primary uses of outcomes data are to evaluate treatments and to a ssess the quality of care provided by physicians, healthcare instituti ons, and health insurance plans. Outcomes management integrates these activities through the implementation of guidelines, ideally based on empiric data on the relationship between medical interventions and out comes; and the measurement of performance against a set of quality ind icators derived from those guidelines. One of the biggest challenges f acing clinicians today is how to reconcile the need to do what is best for patients with the need to practice cost-conscious medicine. High- quality outcomes data are at the heart of the solution. This presentat ion is a brief overview of outcomes research and management and its ro le in oncology practice.