About the project

Second pilot project for the implementation of Patient Reported Outcome Measures in Switzerland – Project EQK

Information about the project:

Working together for better quality in healthcare: A new pilot project to collect patient outcome data has been launched. How do patients experience their treatment – ​​and how can this experience contribute to improved quality of care? A new pilot project, funded by the Swiss Federal Quality Commission (EQK), makes the impact of medical treatments visible from the perspective of those affected, across all levels of care. The project focuses on so-called Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs). These are structured feedback forms that allow patients to assess their own quality of life, health, and satisfaction after medical treatments. Such information is crucial for understanding the actual impact of therapies – across disciplines and along the entire treatment pathway.

What is special about this project:

This project in Switzerland is testing a cross-sector PROMs solution, in which hospitals, rehabilitation clinics, and other partners collaborate closely. The aim is to avoid duplicate data collection and promote a shared understanding of good treatment quality – from the perspective of the patients themselves.

The project focuses on orthopedic procedures – in particular artificial knee and hip joints and shoulder replacements (total replacement, partial replacement, and revisions). 500 patients will be followed at five points in time over 12 months, from hospital admission through rehabilitation to aftercare at home.

Fig. Sequence and timing of measurements:

The project’s multidimensional approach includes not only the PROMs mentioned earlier but also Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs). This ensures that the patients’ experiences during the care process are also incorporated, such as their perceptions of communication. Furthermore, Clinic Reported Outcome Measures (CROMs) are used to assess the treatment outcomes from the perspective of the treating physicians.

Who is involved?

In addition to Healthbrain GmbH (project management; PROMs solution provider) and the Clinical Trial Unit of the Quality of Life Foundation, launched by Hirslanden AG as a research partner, numerous stakeholders from all language regions of Switzerland are involved: these include Hirslanden clinics in German- and French-speaking Switzerland, the Ospedale Lugano/Bellinzona (EOC) in Ticino, selected rehabilitation clinics throughout Switzerland, health insurers, Intonate GmbH (AI-supported medical documentation), and other partners – including the Zurich Patient Advocacy Office, to represent the patient perspective.

The project runs from April 2025 to September 2027 and is supported by the EQK (Swiss Excellence Commission). It is based on the recommendations of the Swiss Society of Orthopaedics (Swiss Excellence Label) and also allows for direct integration with the national implant registry (SIRIS, Swiss-RDL). With this project, EQK is providing an important impetus for patient-centered care and the further development of quality measurement in the Swiss healthcare system. Because good medicine is not only reflected in numbers – but above all in the actual health benefits experienced by people.

The following goals are to be achieved in the project:

  • Accurate, fast and efficient tool for professionals and patients
  • Systematic recording of the patient perspective (e.g. quality of life after knee, hip or shoulder implants, as well as optional cruciate ligament and meniscus implants).
  • Standardize outcome measurement to ensure comparability between hospitals, health insurance companies, and the federal government.
  • Evidence-based healthcare management (quality assurance, research, reimbursement systems).
  • Implementation of a SaaS software solution for secure, data protection-compliant and cross-sector networking of all PROMs participants

Die Roadmap:

Indications / Procedures:

  • Knee = Total knee replacement, partial knee replacement and knee revision replacement (included in SIRIS)
  • Hip = Total hip replacement, partial hip replacement and revision hip replacement (included in SIRIS)
  • Shoulder = Total shoulder replacement, partial shoulder replacement and revision shoulder replacement (included in SIRIS)
  • Experimental:lateral and medial meniscus suture and cruciate ligaments

The measuring instruments (PROMs/PREMs):

  • Knee  = EQ-5D-5L, EQ VAS combined with MDS (2 joint-specific questions & level of patient training*) & KOOS-12** (20 questions)
  • Hip = EQ-5D-5L, EQ VAS combined with MDS (2 joint-specific questions & level of patient training *) & HOOS-12** (20 questions)
  • Shoulder = EQ-5D-5L, EQ VAS combined with MDS (2 joint-specific questions & level of patient training *) (8 questions)
  • PREMs NORPEQ = 8 questions (6 weeks after surgery)
  • *  Covers the Swiss Excellence Label of the Orthopedic Society and the SIRIS questionnaires
  • ** Newly added regarding improved results & evaluation (HOOS-12 / KOOS-12)

Innovation in the solution environment – standardized (openEHR, FHIR) and low-/no-code:

The input fields are created using standardized data models (openEHR), are persistent, and therefore fully structured as machine learning data, directly comparable, and interoperable. This offers the advantage that all data from different centers can be directly understood, evaluated, and displayed. In the healthbrain solution, PROMs (including checklists, forms, and other questionnaires) can be created directly in a first step using a web designer. This eliminates the need for a programmer to create the questionnaires; instead, you can flexibly and free of charge assemble the questionnaires yourself according to your requirements.

These questionnaires can be integrated into workflows in a second step. The combination of questionnaires is freely configurable – as is the number of send-out and the timing of course. This gives users the advantage of being able to simply click on the relevant workflow immediately after logging in and, in one go, begin patient registration and start the workflow itself. This saves users considerable time (patient onboarding and workflow initiation takes approximately 60 seconds) and eliminates the need for integration with a third-party system. Furthermore, the PROM data is then directly reported to the SIRIS registry, thus eliminating the previous administrative overhead associated with SIRIS data.

Last but not least, configurable Dashboards meet your needs for data evaluation and visibility. You see in one go everything about your patient cohort, belonging PROMs/PREMs and all about an individual patient.

Additionally, by the help of Intonate AI, patients are able to answer questionnaires by voice and doctor would get the efficient creation of medical voice-records which directly goes into the Dashboards enabled by openEHR and FHIR.

The patient’s perspective counts!

Patients receive a personalized invitation from you to register/create their personal patient account. By doing so, they consent to making their data available to you as a medical professional and also allow the data to be analyzed pseudonymously in a research context. This connects you with your patients and allows you to track results directly in the dashboard for all patients or for an individual patient.

The Medical Professional Dashboard

The homepage displays the medical professional dashboard. This is flexibly structured so that each medical professional can customize the various windows (widgets) to their needs. This is, in effect, the control center. From here, everything can be managed and visualized, ensuring you always have an up-to-date overview.