Healthcare systems approach to patient reported outcomes—benefits and challenges in thoracic surgery

Quality outcomes are the ultimate goal for our thoracic surgery patients. The collection of data to measure the outcomes have been in place for many years and yet are insufficient. The inclusion of patient reported outcomes (PROs) into data reporting, collection and analysis will help to truly understand what matters most to patients and allow us to provide value-based care every time. It is the responsibility of the healthcare system to provide the resources in order to leverage the patient voice and collect meaningful PROs that can influence the best outcomes possible.