Ingenix, a leading health information, technology, consulting and services company, announced that it has expanded its health outcomes measurement capabilities with the acquisition of QualityMetric Incorporated. QualityMetric is a leader in helping health care companies assess health outcomes as reported by patients themselves, known as patient-reported outcomes. This acquisition adds a new dimension to the capabilities Ingenix can offer to life sciences companies, governments, health systems, payers and consumers.
Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are an important measure of the ultimate effectiveness of health care. QualityMetric develops and maintains popular general and disease-specific health surveys for measuring patients’s own assessments of their health. QualityMetric’s health surveys have been used in thousands of clinical trials since 1997 and cited in over 14,000 peer-reviewed articles.
Regulators and payers worldwide increasingly require that manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, biologics and medical devices provide evidence of comparative effectiveness to gain market approval and qualify for reimbursement. Included in this determination is an analysis of safety, effectiveness and cost. Said Brian Kelly, group president at Ingenix’s life sciences business, i3, QualityMetric’s PRO capability complements our clinical outcomes and medical expenditures research by providing a critical new component patients assessments of their own health status to the insights that i3 can deliver for our clients.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides for investment of more than $1 billion in federal funding for comparative effectiveness research (CER), underscoring the important role CER will play in transforming the U.S. health system.”Health reform in the U.S. focuses even greater attention on applying real-world evidence to improving patient outcomes. QualityMetric augments our ability to measure how patients experience changes in their quality of life, daily functioning, satisfaction and other health categories as a result of the care they receive, a key dimension of the CER we conduct on behalf of governments, health systems and payers,”said Clifford Goodman, vice president at Ingenix company The Lewin Group and acting director of The Lewin Group Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research.
“By combining the capabilities of Ingenix and QualityMetric, we will deliver new insights to Ingenix clients and a wider suite of global services to help QualityMetric’s clients realize the full potential of their businesses,”said Gus Gardner, president and chief operating officer of QualityMetric.
In addition to serving the life sciences industry, QualityMetric serves health care payers, who use patient-reported outcome data to help improve health care services and resource allocation, evaluate provider performance, predict utilization patterns and achieve better outcomes for patients. QualityMetric’s capabilities complement Ingenix’s existing solutions for helping health care payers measure the quality and cost of care.
About Ingenix
Ingenix, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, is a leading provider of health information, technologies, consulting and services. Organizations, institutions, businesses and government agencies that comprise the health care system depend on Ingenix solutions and insights to improve their performance.