OBJECTIVES: This study addresses the implementation of value-based healthcare (VBHC), focusing on clinical examples from western countries. A major step in the realization process of VBHC is the development of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) to observe and quantify impacts and outcomes of medical treatments. The aim was to analyze PROMs sets developed and used in clinical settings with the intention of investigating the practical feasibility of VBHC.

METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted by searching through the databases of EMBASE/MEDLINE and PubMed. We identified 380 publications, of which 20 were included after data-extraction. The articles were categorized according to disease groups (chronic, curable, palliative). All included publications were examined to their PROMs sets: type of PROM (generic, disease-, domain-specific), diversification inside the set, collection of PROMs (digital, paper or phone) and the respective intervals. Beyond that, experiences on the implementation of PROMs reported from patients and providers, were specifically identified from the included studies.

RESULTS: The analysis revealed that the underlying PROMs sets from our literature were individually designed, with mostly low PROMs diversification inside the set. No indicators were found that providers self-regulate towards transparency. Differences between the sets and inside the groups of chronic and curable diseases were high, so that comparability was hardly given, except for palliative conditions, which all contained domain specific PROMs. Experiences reported by patients and providers showed positive effects, such as greater treatment compliance or higher healthcare satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS: Based on this systematic review, it can be concluded that the profound purpose of PROMs was to increase transparency and quality of care. To improve and ensure comparability of PROMs, it is important to develop and apply standardized PROMs sets based on analysis for diseases beyond palliative care for which it has been most extensively applied until now.