Abstract

The use of patient-reported measures in routine clinical settings is rapidly expanding because many healthcare systems are moving toward patient-centered care. This is a result of increased recognition that value of care ultimately needs to be assessed by the person receiving care and may not be solely defined by clinicians.¹ In addition to clinically reported outcome measures, the experience of the care process matters as well. Patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) differ from patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs), because PREMs refer to the setting in which healthcare is delivered (structure) and the interactions between patients and providers (process), whereas PROMs refer to the impact of healthcare on the health status of patients and populations (outcomes).

PREMs have become an important tool for policy makers who wish to understand how well the healthcare delivery is aligned with patients’ goals. Patient experience management focuses on improving patient experience. Planning, evaluating, and proactively managing settings and interactions of healthcare delivery are hardly feasible without an active management. Patient experience management requires an integral approach where a “feedback loop” is established that allows patient-reported measures to become input for the further development of healthcare systems. Challenges are that indicators need to have been agreed.