Measuring What Matters: Patient-Centered Outcomes in Research and Practice

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Healthcare Quality, Patient Safety, and Self-care Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2026 | Viewed by 5

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Interests: patient-reported outcomes; co-design; implementation

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Guest Editor Assistant
Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Interests: patient-reported outcomes; predictive modelling; health services and outcome research

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The purpose of this Special Issue is to capture the full lifecycle of Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs), from conceptualization and measure development to real-world implementation and evaluation. We aim to highlight work that advances the science of PROs—ranging from psychometric evaluation and methodological innovations to the design of electronic PRO (ePRO) systems that enhance accessibility, usability, and integration into health systems.

We particularly welcome contributions that demonstrate how PRO data are applied in practice, including their role in informing clinical decision-making, improving quality of care, and strengthening patient–clinician communication. For this Special Issue, we also seek to highlight innovations in patient involvement and engagement in PRO-related research, including co-design approaches to measure development, integration of patient perspectives in ePRO system design, and strategies that ensure PROs remain meaningful and relevant across diverse patient populations. Types of submissions invited include original research, scholarly reviews, theoretical or conceptual papers advancing PRO science, and practice-based case studies on PRO integration into healthcare delivery.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Francesca Farina
Guest Editor

Dr. Rowida Mohamed
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • patient-reported outcomes (PROs)
  • ePRO systems
  • psychometric evaluation
  • measure development
  • clinical decision-making
  • patient engagement and co-design
  • health system integration
  • methodological innovations

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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