OUTCOMES RESEARCH - CLUES TO QUALITY AND ORGANIZATIONAL-EFFECTIVENESS

Outcomes research has often been touted as the best response to concer ns about quality in today's health care organizations. Yet, outcomes r esearch is accompanied by its own set of problems. These problems must be addressed if outcomes research is, in fact, to guide assessments o f quality and of organizational effectiveness. One question is how qua lity and organizational effectiveness should be defined. Ln addition, measurement issues are particularly problematic in outcomes research, as is the availability of appropriate data. This article discusses eac h of these areas, and concludes by presenting an integrated model to g uide the assessment of outcomes, quality, and organizational effective ness.