Polaris Global Health Solutions

“No one thinks that they treat patients differently,” said Michael Posencheg, MD, Associate Chief for Clinical Affairs at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, “but when you look at the data, you can see that there are reasons, whether it’s unconscious or conscious, that different patients get different interventions.” That is why he believes there is "no quality without #healthequity." According to Posencheg, collecting and using REaL (race, ethnicity, and language) data to identify inequities, help set priorities, and drive improvement is key. “When you look, you find gaps,” he said. “And when you find gaps, you have a real drive and an obligation to strive for improvement.” https://lnkd.in/eznbeJyk

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are an essential tool in practicing value-based health care and patient-centered care. When used in clinical care, PROMs have shown positive effects, including better patient–clinician communication, improved quality of life, and even increased survival. Despite these promising effects, however, real-life implementation of PROMs remains challenging. Therefore, in 2019, the Amsterdam PROM Expertise Center (PEC) was initiated; this multidisciplinary team is dedicated to guiding the implementation of PROMs in the Amsterdam University Medical Centers using an Epic/MyChart electronic health record (EHR). Based on experience and scientific evidence, PEC developed both the PROM policy consisting of eight recommendations and the Amsterdam PROM Pathway, a practical guideline to implement PROMs in clinical care across diverse patient populations. The Amsterdam PROM Pathway consists of four phases (registration, design, preparation, and implementation) involving eight steps, as described in the article. The initiation of PEC and the development of the PROM policy and the Amsterdam PROM Pathway have been instrumental in overcoming hurdles on multiple levels: the hospital, the information and communications technology system, the PROMs, the clinician, and the patient. Improving PROM implementation requires an ongoing process supported by current and future research and implementation projects on, for instance, the optimization of EHR usage and inclusivity of PROMs for all patients. Since launching its Amsterdam PROM Implementation Strategy, the organization has provided PROM-specific training to hundreds of clinicians and has seen health care team PROM engagement grow from 15 when going live in 2019 to 74 in April 2024. In addition, the number of health care teams using one or more Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System measures in their PROM sets has increased from 0 in 2019 to 26 in April 2024: https://nej.md/4c02rvd

You can do anything...but not everything. Illustration by me 😊 💡What's ONE thing you're prioritizing this week?

Transforming Healthcare to Improve the Health and Well-Being of Older Americans https://lnkd.in/eAUiKUKA AHRQ’s growing efforts to improve healthcare for older adults, particularly those with multiple chronic conditions, is the subject of a new AHRQ Views blog post. #AHRQ #Aging #Healthequity #HSR #Olderadults #Primarycare #Olderamericans