Patient-Reported Data On The Rise
By Katie Wike, contributing writer
According to a recent survey, two-thirds of top companies use patient reported outcomes to gather data in clinical trials.
The majority of top pharmaceutical companies now use patient reported outcomes begging the question: are doctors’ offices next? “These patient-reported measures add to product value propositions as companies move through regulatory approval discussions, as well as pricing and reimbursement negotiations,” reports Marketwatch.
According to researchers from Cutting Edge Information, 68 percent of clinical trials at top companies now utilize patient-reported outcomes. Ninety percent of small pharmaceuticals developing clinical trials incorporate patient-reported data in their health IT systems.
“Although PROs are increasingly embraced in the pharmaceutical industry, life science organizations must not rely solely on these measures to support regulatory approval,” said Victoria Cavicchi, research analyst at Cutting Edge Information. “Teams should play a balancing act and incorporate the right mix of traditional clinical evidence with patient responses to build the strongest case for emerging products.”
EHR Intelligence reports that, although this strategy may work for pharmaceutical companies, there are still barriers to using patient reported outcomes in EHRS. For example, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association found certain barriers to implementing this type of data including uncertain clinical benefit for one, time, work flow, and effort constraints.
On the other hand, there were also several factors which facilitated PROs, such as usable system interfaces, process automation, and collecting relevant patient-generated data at the right time.
“When it comes to using EHR technology to gather patient-reported outcomes, it is vital to ensure there is clinical relevancy as well as to minimize provider and patient burdens,” concluded EHR Intelligence. “As the healthcare industry continues to push forward patient engagement and develop new uses for complex medical technologies, it is likely that patient-reported outcomes will gain more clinical benefits throughout the healthcare spectrum.”