Neil Bacon, MD
The International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM), an independent nonprofit organization, recently announced that physician-entrepreneur Neil Bacon, MD, has been appointed as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. ICHOM’s mission is to catalyze a global movement to transform health care worldwide through the creation of international standards for treatment outcomes that are developed and updated over time by international teams of leading clinicians, investigators, and patients. ICHOM has produced standard sets for various diseases, including stroke, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, as well as for many types of cancer. Furthermore, ICHOM assists providers on how to implement outcome measures and utilize outcomes to improve patient care. To date, ICHOM has worked with more than 600 provider organizations and 15 national registries across 30 countries.
Dr. Bacon hopes to expand ICHOM’s outcome measurement to every health-care delivery organization and nation. ICHOM is also in the initial stages of establishing a platform for benchmarking outcomes across countries, which will enable innovation in health care. Moreover, ICHOM is in the process of benchmarking lung and breast cancer outcomes across Europe as part of a project called All.Can.
Career Overview
Dr. Bacon is an academic clinician and health information technology entrepreneur and a leader in quality measurement. A nephrologist trained at Oxford University and Harvard University, Dr. Bacon founded Doctors.net.uk in 1996, one of the world’s largest online medical networks. In 2008, Dr. Bacon founded iWantGreatCare, an independent organization enabling patients to rate and review their doctors, dentists, hospitals, after-care facilities, and medications.
“The worldwide need to measure quality and value in health care through standardized outcome measures by condition that matter most to patients is greater than ever,” noted Dr. Bacon. “The benefits to patients, providers, and payers of measuring the ultimate quality of care is irrefutable.” ■
