OECD PaRIS: international research on primary care for the chronically ill
News
27-02-2020

OECD PaRIS: international research on primary care for people with chronic conditions

Together with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an international consortium led by Nivel will develop and implement a survey on behalf of – and in collaboration with – participating countries. The survey will measure the experiences and outcomes of care among primary care users worldwide. About fifteen countries are expected to participate and use the results to further strengthen their primary care system. This survey is part of the OECD PaRIS initiative and is called the International Survey on Outcomes and Experiences of People with Chronic Conditions.

The changing demand for care requires a refinement of the care system
In many counties there is an increase of the number of habitants with (multiple) chronic conditions. Therefore many countries have to deal with changing and increasing care needs. In order to be able to respond adequately, it is necessary to make the healthcare system more future-proof, in particular the primary care. The PaRIS project makes an important contribution to this effort by generating information that helps to refine health care systems to better meet patient needs.

Comparison of primary care in several countries
The aim of the project is to compare the experiences with primary care and the outcomes of care of people with chronic conditions of the different countries. These comparisons will be used to inform and facilitate a policy dialogue on opportunities to strengthen primary care systems.

Questionnaires patient experiences (PREMs) and patient-reported outcomes (PROMs)
Questionnaires are developed for measuring patient experiences (PREMs) and patient-reported outcomes (PROMs) regarding the care they receive. PROMs are mainly about the outcomes of the care that patients can comment on, for example itching, pain, fatigue and quality of life in general. PREMs are shorter lists with questions about the process of care, for example about treatment, communication and information provision. In addition, there will be a concise survey for providers to measure their characteristics and perspectives. As soon as the surveys are ready, they are translated and published in collaboration with the participating countries. This is first done in the form of a small-scale field trial, followed by a large-scale measurement. Fifteen countries are expected to participate.

About the research project
The PaRIS-SUR project consists of two phases: phase 1 consists of developing, translating and testing the questionnaires (2020-2021); phase 2 consists of supporting countries in the implementation of a pilot and then national implementation (2021-2024).
Participants of the consortium are Nivel (Dolf de Boer (project director) and Mieke Rijken (project co-director), University of Exeter (José Maria Valderas), Ipsos MORI (Rachel Williams and Laura Thomas), Optimedis (Oliver Groene) and FAD (Rosa Suñol). The span of the project is four years and it starts early 2020.