A method is presented for measuring the recovery of a medical treatment provider's patients from a given medical condition. During treatment and recovery, a patient periodically takes a survey to report the current intensity of the signs and symptoms caused by his/her medical condition. The patient also assigns a weight to each sign/symptom, indicating the relative intensity of his/her desire to eliminate it. The product of the intensity of a sign or symptom and its corresponding weight measures the diminishment of quality of life. An outcomes measure, measurable in quality-adjusted life-years, compares a patient's predicted recovery, which is rendered by an independent source at the time the patient's diagnosis is determined, with the patient's actual recovery. Outcomes measures for a provider's patients with a given medical condition and with similar predicted recoveries are combined to produce an unbiased, risk-adjusted outcomes index that can be compared with that of other providers.
Method for measuring health care quality