PROMs are surveys that patients fill out to share information about their symptoms, how well they can function, their quality of life, and overall health. They show how a patient’s health changes from their own view. For example, a person with arthritis might tell how much pain they feel or how limited their movement is, without needing to see a doctor in person. PREMs focus on what patients think about the healthcare services they got. This includes how well staff communicated, wait times, and how professional the staff seemed.
Both PROMs and PREMs are important tools. They help show how healthcare treatments affect patients beyond what doctors can see in tests. They point out where care might be good or where it might need work, based on what patients say. This helps make health services better suited to what patients need.
Personalized healthcare means treating the whole person, not just the illness. PROMs and PREMs help by making sure patients’ opinions are part of care decisions. Pedro Casaca from NOVA National School of Public Health says that knowing what patients experience and how treatments work is key to good healthcare. Using PROMs and PREMs helps doctors create treatment plans based on real-time feedback from patients.
Also, when many patient responses are combined, healthcare groups can compare how well they are doing, find places to improve, and make care safer. For example, if a clinic sees low scores on how long patients wait to make appointments, they can change office work to make the process quicker and patients happier.
In the U.S., many adults have long-term diseases. About 60% of adults have one or more chronic illnesses. Collecting PROMs regularly from these patients helps doctors see how diseases change and how treatments are working, from the patient’s viewpoint. This helps make care more responsive and personal. It is very important in primary care, where managing long illnesses often needs constant changes.
Even with their benefits, PROMs and PREMs are not widely used in many U.S. medical places. Collecting, processing, and using patient-reported data in clinics can be difficult.
One big problem is using old paper forms to gather PROMs and PREMs. These ways take a lot of time and money, and many patients don’t respond. This is especially true for elderly people or those who have trouble using digital devices. For many healthcare workers, using these forms can add to their work without saving any time during patient care.
Another issue is that PROMs and PREMs are often used only in research projects and not regularly for improving care. Without using the data all the time, chances to make better care decisions are lost. Many healthcare managers don’t have the systems needed to collect, study, and use these reports properly, which limits how much good they can do.
It is also important that these measures work well for different kinds of patients across the U.S. Without getting input from patients, care providers, and decision makers, PROMs and PREMs might not fully reflect people’s experiences or fair standards of care.
Switching from paper forms to electronic PROMs and PREMs improves how data is collected and makes it easier for patients. Patients can fill out the surveys anytime on smartphones, tablets, or computers. This can increase how many people respond and how fast data is gathered.
Reminders sent electronically help more patients complete the forms. When ePROMs and ePREMs are connected to electronic health records, doctors get patient data right away. This helps them make better decisions. Paulo Sousa from NOVA National School of Public Health says that this connection “supports the active use of data for person-centered care.”
Healthcare groups in the U.S. are using these digital methods more. Some primary care offices use patient portals to send PROMs forms before visits. This lets doctors see patient answers ahead of time and improve face-to-face talks.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help use PROMs and PREMs data better. It can improve how clinics work and help provide better care. AI can automate gathering, processing, and analyzing patient data. This reduces extra work and improves quality of responses.
Simbo AI is a company that uses AI to handle phone calls and support healthcare offices. With AI, clinics can gather PROMs and PREMs surveys over the phone without adding work for staff or disrupting schedules. This also reminds patients to finish surveys which increases the number of responses.
AI systems can study large amounts of PROMs and PREMs data with clinical information. They help find patient risks, predict how diseases will progress, and foresee complications. Research shows AI helps in eight important clinical areas like risk assessment and making treatment plans that fit each patient better.
Fields such as cancer care and radiology have used AI models to help predict patient outcomes. These uses can also work in general care to improve managing long-term illnesses and planning follow-up using PROMs data.
With AI built into electronic health records, clinics can get automatic alerts or follow care steps based on patient reports. For example, if PROMs show that symptoms are getting worse, the system can flag the case for a quicker review. This helps focus resources on patients who need urgent care.
AI automation also cuts down on manual data entry mistakes and makes sure care steps based on patient feedback are applied consistently.
Healthcare providers in the U.S. need to plan carefully and use resources wisely to adopt PROMs and PREMs with AI and automation tools. Administrators should think about:
When done well, this approach can increase patient satisfaction, improve health results, and make healthcare delivery more efficient.
International projects like the OECD’s PaRIS survey show that many countries see value in PROMs and PREMs for managing long-term illnesses. These efforts encourage U.S. healthcare to build systems that use patient data regularly, not just in small projects.
Research says patients need ongoing education, to be included in care routines, and that digital systems must improve. Using AI and automation helps clinics collect and analyze patient data well and use it right away to make care plans fit each patient.
As AI systems become clearer and rules guide their use, AI-based PROMs and PREMs will likely become a regular part of personalized care.
PROMs and PREMs give important information about patients’ health and their care experience. These are key to making care personal in the U.S. healthcare system. Even though there are challenges in collecting and using this data, switching to electronic forms and adding AI tools like those from Simbo AI can help clinics manage better.
Healthcare leaders, such as practice administrators, owners, and IT managers, play big roles in making this happen by investing in the right systems, training, and helping patients take part. As more personalized care is needed, using patient reports with AI and automation will be more important for better care quality and patient safety.
PROMs are tools that measure patients’ views on their symptoms, functional status, and health-related quality of life at a specific point in time, typically through short, self-completed questionnaires.
PREMs assess patients’ perceptions of their experiences during healthcare delivery, capturing their views on the extent to which predefined processes occurred during their care.
They provide vital insights into patients’ experiences and needs, enabling healthcare professionals to enhance care quality and align practices with patient perspectives.
By routinely collecting PROMs and PREMs, healthcare professionals gain insights that facilitate personalized care and enhance the understanding of individual patient outcomes.
Aggregated data from PROMs and PREMs support systematic evaluation and benchmarking, driving enhancements and standardization in care quality across institutions.
Challenges include additional costs, time commitments, low response rates, and potential biases, particularly among hard-to-reach populations who are critical for understanding care delivery.
Switching to electronic forms allows for easier data collection, boosts response rates, and enables patients to complete measures on their devices, streamlining the process.
Engaging patients, providers, and policymakers ensures relevant and culturally appropriate measures, helping bridge gaps between scientific rigor and practical implementation in health systems.
Data from PROMs and PREMs inform research and policymaking, guiding the development of health policies that better reflect patient experiences, needs, and outcomes.
Utilizing digital reminders and customizing measures to ensure inclusivity can improve response rates and equity, emphasizing the need for ongoing education and systemic integration.
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