November 15, 2018 —OM1, a leading health outcomes and technology company, today announced the publication of new harmonized outcome measures for atrial fibrillation (AF) in HeartRhythm. OM1’s Richard Gliklich and Michelle Leavy collaborated on the development of the measures and co-authored the publication. The work was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) through an interagency agreement with the Office of the Secretary Patient Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund.
Atrial fibrillation affects some 3 million adults in the United States, leading to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke and contributing to more than 80,000 deaths per year. AF patient registries are an important source of data for addressing new research questions and improving patient outcomes, but differences in the way registries define and capture outcome measures limits the utility of these resources.
The AF harmonization effort brought together patient registries, clinical experts, professional associations, health systems, quality measurement organizations, regulatory agencies, patient advocacy groups, and other stakeholders to develop a minimum set of standardized outcome measures that could be captured in all AF patient registries. The minimum measure set, published today in HeartRhythm, is relevant across treatment pathways and is appropriate for use in research and clinical practice settings. Narrative definitions were translated into standardized terminologies to facilitate consistent implementation and capture of the outcome measures in electronic health systems; these resources can be found on the AHRQ website and in the Outcome Measures Repository.
“Outcomes standardization is a critical element in being able to fully understand and compare treatment effectiveness, benefit and risk and to enable better collaboration across stakeholders,” said Gliklich, founder and CEO, OM1. “This initiative is an important step toward improving patient outcomes and delivering more personalized treatments in AF.”
Supported by the Office of the Secretary Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund, the harmonization effort builds on prior AHRQ-funded efforts to develop the Outcome Measures Framework (OMF), a conceptual model for classifying outcomes that are relevant to patients and providers across most conditions.