Jennifer Bright
President & CEO, International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM); Consultant, Momentum Health Strategies LLC
I’m returning from Amsterdam and ICHOM 2024 with a full mind and a full heart. Almost 700 delegates from 47 countries on 6 continents joined us at Beurs van Berlage for a science-filled conference focusing on co-designing and implementing standardized health and life quality outcomes measurement. We were fortunate this year to host ICHOM’s largest delegate and speaker cohort representing patient lived experience, and the contributions their voices made to the conference were profound. In addition, we presented over 156 scientific abstracts (a new high-water mark for ICHOM) that spanned implementation of ICHOM Sets on diabetes, cardiovascular health, oncology, mental health, pregnancy & childbirth, renal care and more. We presented two awards – the ICHOM-NEJM Catalyst Implementation Prize to the Hospital Moinhos de Vento in Brazil for implementation and outcomes measurement across a range of ICHOM Sets, and a delegate-selected “People’s Choice” award to OLVG for their work in designing and using a dialysis app to improve care and meet patient needs.
We also conferred the inaugural ICHOM Michael E. Porter Lectureship to Elizabeth Teisberg, whose original experience in seeking care for her son became the catalyst and the north star for the value-based healthcare movement. Her co-authorship of Redefining Healthcare and her tireless leadership to promote co-creation with patients and families of measures that matter to them, continues to inspire action around the world. During her lecture, she reminded all of us that ensuring health “for each and for all” is the fundamental purpose of healthcare and that value cannot exist without that purpose.
As always, I take many lessons home from ICHOM and I’m sharing just a few below. There is still time to secure a digital pass to watch the full recording of the conference which will be released in November. Take a look and see why ICHOM 2025 will be the must-attend conference from 30 September to 2 October, 2025 in Dublin, Ireland. We’re already gathering insights and ideas, and I cannot wait to show you where ICHOM is leading next.
1. Think Globally, but Act Locally. Change can happen from the bottom up – as in a clinic or hospital unit – AND from the top down – as in national policies and data collection platforms. Wherever you start, make the change relevant to local needs and norms. Share what you learn across systems and borders to scale up.
2. Start Simply, and Simply START! Outcomes measurement is agile and can start with the priorities based on local needs, patient goals and resources. Incremental implementation works and will encourage expansion.
3. Listen for, include, and co-create with the “unexpected voices” to define what needs are important to address and to measure. Patient-led change requires inclusive thinking and dedication to expanding understanding and elevating patients and families as experts. Lauren Cloud, the mother of a child with Angelman’s Syndrome, said it best: “if you want change, you have to go to the people living the struggle.”
4. Complexity doesn’t need to be a barrier to action. Small and large efforts in all types of healthcare settings, across multiple health conditions, are happening right now, both in countries and settings with sophisticated technology and resources, and in those with limited resources. The common denominator is the drive to get people healthier and to do so with the most efficient use of resources. Proof points abound – just see ICHOM’s implementation directory and the publications and abstracts that emerge from such work.
5. Use technology to tighten relationships rather than replace them. Digital health tools and AI can accelerate learning and support flexible, personalized care. Neither is a substitute for intentional, thinking care delivery and focus on the outcomes that matter to the person receiving that care.
6. The first ingredient of value is TRUST. The use of meaningful data that informs shared care decisions and pathways is a fundamental action to build and sustain trust, increase engagement, and create evidence that drives innovation and efficiency.
7. The most effective incentives for value-based care combine heart, carrots, and sticks. Regulatory and payment systems based on standardized outcomes measurement will inform people to do the right thing, reward the outcomes versus the processes or activities, and establish the criteria and expectations based on shared learning.
8. Be outraged that our healthcare systems everywhere do not efficiently or consistently deliver care that is safe, equitable, and meaningful to living our life. Disparities in care, lack of access, adverse events, waste, rising disease prevalence, and unchecked price and cost increases affect every nation on the planet. The results of the care delivered must be the primary, standard metric of improvement, allowing all of us to learn faster what works, for whom it works best, and why. Outcomes are the key to unlocking global learning and action.
9. Use that outrage to Be a Rebel. Whether you’re a Seeker, Solver, Networker or Champion, you have a role in the change that is driven by data and agency. Ask the “why” questions, dare to share your data and publish in the public domain so that everyone learns faster. Make and use your connections to raise up unexpected and marginalized voices, so that we understand what goals and lived context are important to the care journey. Lead by example and challenge others who have the resources (of all kinds) to dedicate them to an outcomes-driven transformation.
10. The Future is Now. We have no more time to waste debating payment models, innovation strategies or regulatory frameworks that do not start with the outcomes that matter to patients and families. ICHOM represents a global community of change agents from clinical, patient, researcher, payer, and regulator sectors. This grassroots movement has collectively built over a decade of science, co-creation, and implementation that makes patient-centered outcomes the fulcrum of change.
