Adopting Patient-Centered Outcome Measures with ICHOM CEO Jennifer Bright

In this episode of Humanizing Healthcare, we speak with Jennifer Bright, CEO of International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM), about what healthcare value really means and confront a question that challenges how most systems operate:

Are we measuring what actually helps patients get better, or just what’s easy to count?

Healthcare has become very good at tracking processes. But as Jennifer explains, many of the things we label as “outcomes” are actually tasks we do to or for patients. Screenings, follow-ups, time-to-needle. Important, yes. But they’re not results.

Jennifer shares how ICHOM works with health systems around the world to define and use patient-centered outcome measures that reflect real results. She explains why survival alone does not tell the full story, why mental health and functional recovery matter, and why value must be defined by improvement in people’s lives.

If we’re serious about humanizing healthcare, value has to mean improvement in people’s lives. This conversation pushes us to live up to that standard.

🎧 Take a listen.

Key Takeaways

Introduction (00:00)

Jennifer’s personal journey into patient advocacy (02:43)

From lived experience to healthcare system reform (06:27)

What ICHOM does and how it was founded (09:04)

Why measuring patient outcomes took so long (12:35)