National Health Outcomes Database

The United States needs a National Health Outcomes Database. Such a database would dramatically improve the quality and consistency of care delivered by our health system by ensuring that health care decision-making reflects the best scientifically-based information and outcomes research. A National Health Outcomes Database uses electronic health information from multiple data sources to offer unbiased, evidence-based guidance on “what treatments work best”.

For more than a decade, The Joseph H. Kanter Family Foundation has led the effort to raise awareness and begin creating the National Health Outcomes Database. The proposed database is conceived to be a practical method to improve health care decision-making by allowing patients and physicians the opportunity to tap into scientifically-based information and health outcomes research.


In order for a National Health Outcomes Database to work, it needs continuous updates of data. Personal electronic medical records which the Federal Government has directed all doctors, hospitals and medical providers nationwide to adopt by 2015 are the ideal source of health outcome data. Defining characteristic data such as age, height, and gender; treatment data like surgeries and prescribed medications; and outcome data would be extracted from the personal electronic medical records. All collected information would remain anonymous. Personal and confidential information such as the patient’s name, social security number or address would be stripped.

The ongoing collection, management and analysis of health data would be overseen by a Federal Health Board (FHB), modeled after the Federal Reserve System for banking. To learn more about the proposed FHB, click here.

The technology needed to build a compendium of treatment results indexed by age, sex, and other patient variables exists today. Smaller scale databases are already in use by government agencies, and highly lauded for their ability to improve health care delivery. In addition, Congress has already funded two of our Partners health care databases. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) links every hospital in the country to provide immediate information on infectious diseases and bioterrorism attacks and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) collects information on hospital deaths caused by human error. This is only the beginning.

The Joseph H. Kanter Family Foundation in partnership with eHealth Initiative has launched Partnership for Connecting for Research on Outcomes and Effectiveness, an 18-month national effort to create a model for a National Health Outcomes Database using electronic health information from multiple data sources to offer unbiased, evidence-based guidance on “what treatments work best”.


The pilot project prioritizes the patient’s privacy. All records remain the private property of the patient, and cannot be given out without the patient’s approval. Next, all personal names will be stripped from the records and replaced with an assigned number known only to the patient and provider, and all records will be kept securely in the provider’s office.