Measurement, Design, and Analysis Methods for Health Outcomes Research

Health care systems around the world are facing growing pressures to provide more effective care at lower costs. Health outcomes research assesses the end results of health care services, providing evidence for the value of specific medical treatments or interventions that can be used to make better decisions and improve health care.

Measurement, Design, and Analysis Methods for Health Outcomes Research provides you with the language and concepts you need to synthesize outcomes studies into useful knowledge for effective clinical and business decision-making. You will learn to design, implement, critically review, and analyze health outcomes studies and gain an understanding of the statistical methods required for outcomes research. This program explores many aspects of health outcomes research, including:

• Designing health outcomes research studies
• Data collection considerations
• Measurement and evaluation of outcomes data
• Analysis and applications of studies

Why Health Outcomes Research is Important

Outcomes research is valuable largely because of the breadth of issues it addresses. A diverse and growing number of organizations – employers, health care delivery organizations, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and governments – rely on health outcomes research for actionable data that will help them make better decisions about the value of different treatments and interventions. By improving the decision-making process across organizations, outcomes research increases the value of each dollar spent on health care.

Among other applications, outcomes research studies can be used to:

• Help match treatments to individual patients, based on patient-specific criteria
• Determine if specific treatments are over- or under-used for populations of patients
• Incorporate non-traditional outcomes measures such as patient preference and quality of life into the decision-making process

Develop a Network of Professionals Focused on Improving Care

To ensure a truly rich experience, this program will host a diverse group of participants, brought together by their common goal of improving health care. During the program, you will network and engage with others working towards similar goals and exchange ideas on how best to solve problems you face every day.

Objectives & Highlights

As a participant, you will learn to:

• Evaluate the usefulness of outcomes measures and the application of new technologies in organizations
• Conceptually define the meaning and purpose of outcomes research
• Understand the role of epidemiology, health economics, psychometrics and biostatistics in conducting outcomes research
• Recognize the different types of measures used in outcomes research, including clinical, health status, quality of life, work/role and health care utilization, and patient satisfaction
• Adopt new methods for modeling patient responses
• Interpret statistical measurement concepts such as reliability, validity, responsiveness, sensitivity, and power
• Understand statistical analysis appropriate for outcomes research, including analysis of longitudinal and categorical data
• Synthesize findings from a variety of health outcomes research studies
• Compare the effectiveness of different treatments for the same illness