The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) https://www.ahrq.gov announced that the app called PRISM won the AHRQ “Step-Up-App Challenge”. The multi-phase competition’s goal was to develop a user friendly app capable of collecting standardized “Patient-Reported Outcomes” (PRO) data in various ambulatory settings, including primary and specialty care.
PRO data includes information on the status of a patient’s health condition that comes directly from the patient, without interpretation of the patient’s response by a clinician or other medical experts. This data can yield insights into health status, function, symptom burden, adherence, health behaviors, and quality of life.
PRO data was not routinely collected and used in practice. One reason is that standards have not previously existed for collecting and integrating PRO data into health IT systems. The result is that clinicians are limited in using the data or easily sharing the data across health systems for research or for other purposes including quality improvement.
The award winning PRISM app developed by a team comprising experts from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management https://carlsonschool.umn.edu, Institute for Health Informatics https://healthinformatics.umn.edu, Fairview Health System /HealthEast Kidney Stone Institute https://www.fairview.org/services/kidney-stone-institute, and PerkHealth, https://www.perkhealth.me, a Minnesota-based startup mobile app development company.
PRISM guides patients through questions on their health status. It is possible for the responses to be integrated into the patient’s medical record so that a clinician can address the patient’s needs and concerns during the clinical visit. Also, the app fosters patient engagement by giving patients real-time feedback on how their data compares to the overall population as well as make personalized recommendations on improving their health.
PRISM will be pilot tested with support from AHRQ in nine practice settings affiliated with MedStar Health in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The results will be available later this year.
In partnership with AHRQ, the HHS Office of the Secretary is providing financial support from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Trust Fund, and the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for HIT to help stakeholders develop the technical specifications needed to support the integration and interoperable exchange of structured PRO data.
For more information, email Karen.migdail@ahrq.hhs.gov.