Background

We outline different health outcomes and describe how multiple perspectives can be harnessed to optimize accuracy of key data collected about patients with chronic conditions. The terms health status, health-related quality of life, and quality of life are often used interchangeably without recognizing that they have different meanings, as are the terms used to refer to the different components of function. While the advantages and limitations of existing frameworks and perspectives are largely understood, greater precision is needed when using health outcome terminology and identifying optimal sources of information.

Objective

A refinement of the current taxonomy is proposed to distinguish between patient reported outcomes (PROs) and self-report outcomes (SROs) and expand the concept of clinically reported outcomes (ClinROs) to include those assessed by performance (PerfOs) and emerging technologies (TechOs).

Discussion

Health outcomes yield important information that can be used to improve the lives of many people. Now is the time to “talk the talk” as part of larger coordinated efforts within and across countries to identify and measure what matters most in health.