Health Outcomes Methodology Symposium

In collaboration with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research, the Outcomes Research Branch sponsored an expert panel symposium to address advances in the measurement of patient health outcomes, such as health-related quality of life. More than 20 health outcomes researchers from North America renowned for their expertise in this area and representatives from various federal agencies participated in this symposium, which was held September 16 - 17, 1999.

The goal of this symposium was to develop a research agenda in outcomes assessment for advancing the science and practice of treatment-effectiveness evaluation. Participants presented papers addressing key research questions that had been identified by the researchers and the symposium organizers during the previous year. Topics included:

• modern measurement approaches, such as Item Response Theory and Computer Adaptive Testing;
• clinical meaningfulness of quality of life assessment;
• health-related quality of life assessment in diverse population groups; and
• validity and interpretation of preference-based health-related quality of life.

The proceedings of this symposium were published as a Supplement in the journal Medical Care titled "Health Outcomes Methodology: Symposium Proceedings" (Suppl, Vol 38, No. 9, September 2000). [View Abstract]