BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PC) is the most common cancer in men in 112 countries, and accounts for 15% of cancers. Because it cannot be prevented, the rise in cases is inevitable, and improvements in diagnostic pathways and treatments are needed, as there is still a shortage of cost-effective diagnostics and widespread oncologically safe treatment options with measurable quality. As part of the implementation of a Full Cycle of Care, instruments have been developed to achieve value-based medicine, such as consistent commitment to measurability. One of these instruments is the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Here, we propose the first BSC for prostate cancer (PC) treatment.
METHODS: BSCs are used to assess performance in healthcare organizations across four dimensions: financial, patient and referrer, process, and learning and development. This study aimed to identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each perspective. A systematic literature search was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines using multiple databases and specific search terms to identify KPIs for PC care, excluding case reports and conference abstracts. In total, 44 reports were included in analyses and development of the PC-specific BSC.
RESULTS: In the present study, a PC-specific BSC and KPIs were defined for the four classic perspectives, as well as for a newly developed PC-Specific Disease and Outcome perspective, including patient-related parameters from the German Cancer Society and the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement. In addition, the Process perspective includes KPIs of fulfillment of continuing education of residents and the metrics of structured training of the radical prostatectomy procedure in the Learning and Development perspective.
CONCLUSIONS: The developed BSC provides a comprehensive set of perspectives for an Integrated Practice Unit or center in PC care, ensuring that the indicators remain manageable and applicable. The BSC facilitates value creation in line with Porter\'s Full Cycle of Care by systematically collecting and providing economic, personnel, and medical results, actions, and indicators. In particular, this BSC includes KPIs of structured training of practitioners and metrics of the German Cancer Society, that recently proved to improve PC patients outcomes.

Background: In 1990, the United States\' Institute of Medicine promoted the principles of outcomes monitoring in the alcohol and other drugs treatment field to improve the evidence synthesis and quality of research. While various national outcome measures have been developed and employed, no global consensus on standard measurement has been agreed for addiction. It is thus timely to build an international consensus. Convened by the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM), an international, multi-disciplinary working group reviewed the existing literature and reached consensus for a globally applicable minimum set of outcome measures for people who seek treatment for addiction. Methods: To this end, 26 addiction experts from 11 countries and 5 continents, including people with lived experience (n = 5; 19%), convened over 16 months (December 2018-March 2020) to develop recommendations for a minimum set of outcome measures. A structured, consensus-building, modified Delphi process was employed. Evidence-based proposals for the minimum set of measures were generated and discussed across eight videoconferences and in a subsequent structured online consultation. The resulting set was reviewed by 123 professionals and 34 people with lived experience internationally. Results: The final consensus-based recommendation includes alcohol, substance, and tobacco use disorders, as well as gambling and gaming disorders in people aged 12 years and older. Recommended outcome domains are frequency and quantity of addictive disorders, symptom burden, health-related quality of life, global functioning, psychosocial functioning, and overall physical and mental health and wellbeing. Standard case-mix (moderator) variables and measurement time points are also recommended. Conclusions: Use of consistent and meaningful outcome measurement facilitates carer-patient relations, shared decision-making, service improvement, benchmarking, and evidence synthesis for the evaluation of addiction treatment services and the dissemination of best practices. The consensus set of recommended outcomes is freely available for adoption in healthcare settings globally.

UNASSIGNED: Diabetes is a pressing global health issue, demanding innovative strategies for improved treatment. However, traditional care often falls short of patient goals. To address this, digital health solutions, including smartphone apps and remote monitoring, have emerged as crucial in diabetes management. This study aims to assess a comprehensive intervention, combining remote continuous data monitoring (RCDM) with in-clinic care, for enhancing diabetes-related outcomes. Additionally, it seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the digital RCDM component by comparing adherent and non-adherent patients.
UNASSIGNED: Conducted in the United Arab Emirates, a retrospective study involved 89 patients primarily on anti-diabetic medications. They were split into two groups based on adherence to RCDM. Over time, significant improvements were observed across various parameters.
UNASSIGNED: Notably, patients exhibited weight loss (-4.0 ± 5.3, p < 0.001), reduced waist circumference (-4.74 ± 7.8, p < 0.001), lowered HbA1c levels (-1.00 ± 1.3, p < 0.001), decreased systolic BP (-3.1 ± 13.1, p = 0.035), and diminished diastolic BP (-3.4 ± 9.9, p = 0.002) annually. Furthermore, patients adhering to the GluCare model demonstrated substantial HbA1c reductions (-1.53 ± 1.5, p < 0.001), improved lipid profiles, notably decreased total Cholesterol (-16.6 ± 50.3, p = 0.034), and lowered LDL levels (-18.65 ± 42.6, p = 0.006).
UNASSIGNED: The intervention model effectively managed T2D patients through a comprehensive approach, yielding notable improvements in HbA1c levels and other outcomes within a year. The study underscores the limitations of traditional care and reliance simply on pharmacotherapy, and emphasizes the need for a hyper-personalized, and continuous approach for T2D management.

The International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) developed a standard set of patient-centered outcome measures for use in stroke patients. In addition to the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Global Health, it is comprised of 25 questions that are not part of a specific questionnaire. This study aimed to translate these 25 single questions into Dutch.
Two native Dutch-speaking translators independently translated the original ICHOM questions into Dutch. A consensus translation was made by these translators and a third person. This translation was subsequently translated back to English independently by two native English-speaking translators. Afterwards a pre-final version was made by consensus of a committee. After field-testing among 30 stroke patients, a final version was made.
The forward and backward translations led to eight cross-cultural adaptations. Based on the interviews with stroke patients, 12 questions were changed to enhance comprehensibility leading to a final Dutch translation of the 25 single questions.
A Dutch translation of the 25 single questions of the ICHOM Standard Set for Stroke was developed. Now a complete ICHOM Standard Set for Stroke can be used in Dutch populations allowing comparison and improvement of stroke care.

BACKGROUND: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are questionnaires that measure patient outcomes related to quality of life, health, and functioning, and are increasingly used to assess important outcomes from the patient\'s perspective. For PROMs to contribute to better health and better care, it is vital that their content validity be adequate. This requires patient involvement in various steps of PROM development. PROM developers not only recognize the benefits of patient involvement but also report difficulties in recruiting patients and experience patient involvement as time-consuming, logistically challenging, and expensive.
OBJECTIVE: This study seeks to explore different strategies for disclosing the experiential knowledge of patients, namely through analyzing patient stories on the web and social media. The research questions are as follows: (1) how do bloggers living with a disease experience their health-related quality of life? (2) How are these experiences reflected in the domains and items of PROMs related to their disease?
METHODS: First, a qualitative analysis of blogs written by patients was performed. Second, subthemes and underlying codes resulting from this qualitative analysis were systematically compared with the domains and items in PROMs for the respective diseases that the bloggers write about. Blogs were identified via the Google search engine between December 2019 and May 2021.
RESULTS: Bloggers describe a wide range of experiences regarding their physical functioning and health; mental well-being; social network and support; daily life, education, work, and leisure; coping; and self-management. Bloggers also write about their positive and negative experiences with health care delivery, the organization of health care, and health care professionals. In general, patients\' experiences as described in blogs were reflected in the domains and items of the PROMs related to their disease. However, except for diabetes mellitus, in all the sets of PROMs, potentially missing topics could be identified. Similarly, with the exception of Parkinson disease, all PROMs address issues that patients did not write about in their blogs and that might therefore be redundant.
CONCLUSIONS: Web-based patient stories in the form of blogs reveal how people living with a certain disease experience their health-related quality of life. These stories enable analyses of patients\' experiences that can be used to assess the content validity of PROMs. This can be a useful step for researchers who are looking for sets of measuring instruments that match their purposes.

This commentary proposes that Rasch Measurement Theory (RMT) is an innovative method for assessments of patient-centric therapy response in hemophilia A and B, as they are in other disease states or target patient populations. RMT is a necessary and sufficient approach to moving from ordinal observations to interval measurement, which has arithmetic properties. This applies across the board in hemophilia and other disease states for clinical value claims, patient centric or subjective value claims as well as those for anticipated drug utilization and other medical care resources. The purpose of this commentary is to point out limitations regarding current methods for making claims regarding hemophilia response and to propose a new start in hemophilia studies to identify core claims that meet required measurement standards. This applies to both the development of new patient reported outcome instruments as well as the evaluation of existing instruments, with a focus on polytomous instruments and their sub-domains, to evaluate their possible application as measures that approximate RMT requirements.

BACKGROUND: Patient-reported outcome measures [PROMs] are key to documenting outcomes that matter most to patients and are increasingly important to commissioners of health care seeking value. We report the first series of the ICHOM Standard Set for Inflammatory Bowel Disease [IBD].
METHODS: Patients treated for ulcerative colitis [UC] or Crohn\'s disease [CD] in our centre were offered enrolment into the web-based TrueColours-IBD programme. Through this programme, e-mail prompts linking to validated questionnaires were sent for symptoms, quality of life, and ICHOM IBD outcomes.
RESULTS: The first 1299 consecutive patients enrolled [779 UC, 520 CD] were studied with median 270 days of follow-up (interquartile range [IQR] 116, 504). 671 [52%] were female, mean age 42 years (standard deviation [sd] 16), mean body mass index [BMI] 26 [sd 5.3]. At registration, 483 [37%] were using advanced therapies. Median adherence to fortnightly quality of life reporting and quarterly outcomes was 100% [IQR 48, 100%] and 100% [IQR 75, 100%], respectively. In the previous 12 months, prednisolone use was reported by 229 [29%] patients with UC vs 81 [16%] with CD, p <0.001; 202 [16%] for <3 months; and 108 [8%] for >3 months. An IBD-related intervention was reported by 174 [13%] patients, and 80 [6%] reported an unplanned hospital admission. There were high rates of fatigue [50%] and mood disturbance [23%].
CONCLUSIONS: Outcomes reported by patients illustrate the scale of the therapeutic deficit in current care. Proof of principle is demonstrated that PROM data can be collected continuously with little burden on health care professionals. This may become a metric for quality improvement programmes or to compare outcomes.

To describe the principles, process, and results of creating the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) standard set for hand and wrist conditions.
Following the standardized methods of ICHOM, an international working group of hand surgeons, therapists, and researchers was assembled to develop an evidence-based, patient-centered, standard set of outcome measures for patients with hand and wrist conditions. Multiple systematic reviews were performed to support our choices of outcome domains and tools for hand and wrist conditions. Fourteen video conferences were held between March 2018 and March 2020, and a modified Delphi process was used.
A consensus was reached on 5 measurement tracks: the thumb, finger, wrist, nerve, and severe hand trauma tracks, with a distinction between regular and extended tracks for which specific allocation criteria applied. The standard set contains a selection of outcome tools and predefined time points for outcome measurement. Additionally, we developed a hierarchy for using the tracks when there are multiple conditions, and we selected risk-adjustment, case-mix variables.
The global implementation of the ICHOM standard set for hand and wrist conditions may facilitate value-based health care for patients with hand and wrist conditions.
The ICHOM standard set for hand and wrist conditions can enable clinical decision making, quality improvement, and comparisons between treatments and health care professionals.

Impairments after stroke may affect multiple domains of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) have proven valuable in measuring patients\' well-being. We examine the psychometric properties of a standard set of PROMs assessing global health, anxiety, and depression, and functioning in a German health care setting.
We included inpatients at the Department of Neurology at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, diagnosed with stroke. Following the stroke-specific standard set of the International Consortium for Health Outcome Measurement, we collected demographic and clinical information at baseline, and PROMs for global health (PROMIS-10), three items for self-reported functioning, anxiety, and depression (PHQ-4) at 90 days follow-up. We calculated confirmatory factor analyses to test factorial validity and correlation analyses to test construct validity. We further conducted item and reliability analyses.
In a sample of 487 patients (mean age, SD: 71.1, 12.6; 47% female) with mild and moderate symptoms, model fit for the PROMIS-10 was acceptable for the two-factor and single-factor models. Factor loadings ranged from 0.52 to 0.94. The postulated single-factor model for functioning was saturated with zero degrees of freedom. Factor loadings ranged from 0.90 to 0.96. For the PHQ-4, the two-factor model showed excellent model fit. Factor loadings ranged from 0.78 to 0.87. Internal consistency was acceptable to good. Construct validity was generally confirmed.
The PROMIS-10 is a valid and reliable instrument to measure HRQoL among German stroke patients. While the PHQ-4 was confirmed as a screening measure for mental disorders, further research is needed on items assessing self-reported functioning. Results are limited to patients showing minimal functional deficits.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the article is to present standard set of outcomes for people with personality disorder (PD), in order to facilitate patient outcome measurement worldwide.
METHODS: The International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) gathered a multidisciplinary international working group, consisting of 16 experts, including clinicians, nurses, psychologists, methodologists and patient representatives, to develop a standard set of outcome measures for people with PD. The Delphi method was used to reach consensus on the scope of the set, outcome domains, outcome measures, case-mix variables and time points for measuring outcomes in service users. For each phase, a project team prepared materials based on systematic literature reviews and consultations with experts.
RESULTS: The working group decided to include PD, as defined by International Classification of Diseases 11th revision (ICD-11). Eleven core outcomes and three optional outcomes across four health domains (mental health, behaviour, functioning and recovery) were defined as those relevant for people with PD. Validated measures for the selected outcomes were selected, some covering more than one outcome. Case-mix variables were aligned to other ICHOM mental health standard sets and consisted of demographic factors and those related to the treatment that people received. The group recommended that most outcomes are measured at baseline and annually.
CONCLUSIONS: The international minimum standard set of outcomes has the potential to improve clinical decision making through systematic measurement and comparability. This will be key in improving the standard of health care for people with PD across the world.