Why CMS Is Using Patient-Reported PREMs PROMs Measures to Transform Value-Based Care?
As healthcare evolves, it’s exciting to see how the CMS Innovation Center is prioritizing patient feedback through PREMs and PROMs. These measures are putting patients like me at the center of care, ensuring our voices are heard and outcomes matter. CMS is truly changing the game, aligning treatments with personal health goals.
I found this article on Healthcare Innovation insightful—it shows how these changes will improve care quality and drive innovation in healthcare!
Summary
The article discusses how patient-reported measures (PRMs) are becoming more critical in healthcare, especially with CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) moving toward value-based care. Two types of patient-reported measures are mentioned:
1. PREMs
Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) – These capture a patient’s experience with the healthcare system (like a survey after a visit). PREMs are already widely used.
2. PROMs
Patient-reported outcome Measures (PROMs) measure whether the patient’s health improves after receiving care. Although PROMs are less commonly used, they are crucial for understanding whether treatments work.
Why Are These Measures Important?
PREMs tell us how patients felt about their care experience (e.g., how they were treated and how well their needs were met).
PROMs provide more direct feedback on whether the patient’s health improved after the care they received (e.g., did their pain decrease or recover faster?).
Susannah Bernheim, a CMS leader, explained that using PREMs and PROMs helps ensure patients get care that aligns with their health goals. CMS is adding these measures to their payment models, meaning doctors and hospitals will be rewarded for delivering care that improves patients’ health and experience.
Key Points:
1. PROMs are less common because they take more time and resources to track.
2. PROMs ask, “Is the patient getting better after treatment?”
3. By 2025, CMS plans to use at least two PROMs in over half of its value-based care models.
4. PREMs and PROMs will allow doctors to see if patients are happy with their care and whether their health is improving.
Other experts in the discussion highlighted barriers to using PROMs, like cost, lack of standardization (no clear rules on collecting and using the data), and insufficient comparison data between different healthcare providers.
Dana Gelb Safran and Greg Meyer, two other experts, pointed out that once these issues are addressed, PROMs will be more widely used. This will improve healthcare overall by ensuring that patients’ outcomes matter as much as their experience.
In simple terms, PREMs tell us if patients are satisfied with their care, while PROMs tell us if the care works. Both are becoming more important as the healthcare system shifts to paying doctors based on the quality and outcomes of care, not just the volume of services provided.
