Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS)

PaRIS is the OECD’s Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys initiative where countries work together on developing, standardising and implementing a new generation of indicators that measure the outcomes and experiences of healthcare that matter most to people. PaRIS aims to fill a critical gap in primary healthcare, by asking about aspects like quality of life, physical functioning, psychological well-being and experiences of healthcare.

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About

Indicators of healthcare system performance have historically focused on traditional indicators such as number of healthcare professionals and hospitalization rates missing an importance piece concerning the impact of healthcare on people’s lives and their lived expenriences.

OECD's Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS) provide a unique set of indicators that unveil how people experience experience healthcare and how this impacts their lives, with focus on patients living with chronic conditions. PaRIS sheds new light on how primary care models deliver for people, regardless of gender, level of income or education.

Why PaRIS?

PaRIS fosters a dialogue with policy makers, healthcare providers, and patients about how to improve the performance and people-centredness of primary care services. To learn more about what PaRIS can do for you, check our Frequently Asked Questions about the PaRIS International Survey of People Living with Chronic Conditions.

Who does PaRIS help?

POLICYMAKERS, by having better information on where to focus quality improvement efforts and prioritise spending . See how policy makers are already using PaRIS to improve health systems: Improving quality of care through the OECD Patient Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS) | OECD
PATIENTS, by having their say on their outcomes and experiences
HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS, by better understanding how to improve the quality of the care they provide

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What matters to patients?

How do people with chronic conditions feel about their own health?
Do people with chronic conditions feel involved in decisions made about their care?
To what extent do chronic conditions limit people in participating in social activities?
How do outcomes and experiences vary with people from different socio-economic backgrounds?

PaRIS Cycles

PaRIS Cycle 1 (2017-2025) sets a new international standard for patient-reported outcomes and experiences consisting of data from more than 107,000 patients receiving care in over 1,800 primary care practices across 19 countries.
PaRIS Cycle 2 (2025-2030) is in development. For more information, see “How to join PaRIS”.

Visual identity of programme with question asking 'What matters to patients?'

Publications

Report

Does Healthcare Deliver?

20 February 2025

289 Pages
Policy paper

Improving quality of care through the OECD Patient Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS)

11 June 2026

43 Pages
Report

The Health and Economic Benefits of Tackling Non‑Communicable Diseases

15 April 2026

116 Pages
Report

Addressing the Costs and Care for Long COVID

8 April 2026

84 Pages
Report

Delivering High Value Cancer Care

2 February 2026

297 Pages
Report

The State of Cardiovascular Health in the European Union

15 December 2025

470 Pages
Report

The Economic Benefit of Promoting Healthy Ageing and Community Care

8 October 2025

217 Pages

Policy briefs and health working papers

Building people‑centred digital health systems

11 Pages

This policy brief explores the lessons that can be drawn from PaRIS (Patient Reported Indicator Surveys) for digital health policy and enablement, with a specific focus on information continuity from the perspectives of accessibility and availability of health information. It examines how gaps in information continuity are reflected in patient-reported experience measures (PREMs), particularly in relation to care co-ordination, people-centred care and trust. The objective of this policy brief is to translate PaRIS evidence into actionable insights for digital health policy, highlighting how improvements in access to and availability of health information may contribute to better patient experiences.

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Living with cardiovascular diseases

11 Pages

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death in the EU. In 2022 it was responsible for one in three deaths and affects over 62 million people, with profound impacts on people’s daily lives. The OECD Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS) captured data on over 100 000 primary care users aged 45 years and older, offering a unique patient centred perspective on health and care delivery for people living with chronic health conditions. The findings show that people living with CVD report significantly lower well-being, poorer physical and mental health, and reduced social functioning compared to those without CVD. They are also nearly twice as likely to visit emergency departments or be hospitalised. While most patients with CVD require complex treatments due to having additional chronic conditions that require multiple medications, fewer than half report having a care plan, a key tool for improving care co-ordination. Preventive lifestyle counselling remains limited despite the high burden of modifiable risk factors – such as low physical activity, unhealthy diets, and tobacco and alcohol use – on CVD mortality.

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The prevalence and impact of Long COVID in the primary care population

29 Pages

Long COVID is a condition developing after initial COVID-19 that results in a range of persistent symptoms, impacting physical and mental health, causing disability and reducing productivity. The OECD Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS) collected data from 2023 to 2024 from 107 011 primary care patients aged 45 years and older in 19 countries, and included questions related to Long COVID. According to PaRIS data, approximately 7% of primary care patients aged 45 years and older reported ever having Long COVID, while an estimated 5% reported living with persisting Long COVID symptoms at the time of survey. Patients living with Long COVID reported lower self-rated physical and mental health and poorer healthcare experiences compared to those without. Implementation of standard care pathways for the diagnosis, management and co ordination of Long COVID care is needed to improve patient healthcare experiences. The long-term health and social impact of Long COVID remains uncertain, requiring continued surveillance and research to estimate the socio-economic costs of the disease burden, in order to better inform health policy.

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PROMoting quality of care through patient reported outcome measures (PROMs)

61 Pages

OECD countries have been committed to making healthcare systems more people-centred through the systematic collection and use of patient-reported measures. At the system level, data derived from patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) can guide policy makers by providing a comprehensive view of the health status of populations, identify health disparities, and assess the performance of healthcare systems in improving health outcomes. This report assesses the systematic collection of PROMs at national level across 38 OECD member and accession countries and provides policy recommendations to advance the systematic collection of PROMs at national level.

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PaRIS Field Trial Report

86 Pages

As populations age and the number of people with chronic conditions increases, countries need to assess how their health systems perform with regard to the management of chronic conditions. OECD's Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS) initiative aims to measure outcomes and experiences of healthcare as reported by patients with chronic conditions as part of the efforts to improve quality of care. The PaRIS survey, an international survey of people living with chronic conditions who are managed in primary care, is implemented in twenty countries. Following a rigorous design and development phase, the PaRIS survey was field-tested in participating countries. This paper reports on the implementation and the results of the Field Trial. The Field Trial provided important lessons which have been used to improve the survey tools and the implementation of the Main Survey.

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All hands on deck: Co‑developing the first international survey of people living with chronic conditions

55 Pages

The OECD's Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS) initiative aims to measure outcomes and experiences of healthcare as part of an effort to improve the value of health system investments. The PaRIS survey, a survey of people living with chronic conditions, is currently being implemented in twenty countries. The PaRIS survey has been developed together with government officials, patients, providers, and researchers. However, the extent of stakeholder involvement varies between countries. This paper reports on the stakeholder engagement in design, development and implementation of the PaRIS survey Field Trial in seventeen countries. Engagement strategies were analysed by target group (patients, providers, or other stakeholders), and engagement level (co-designing, involving, consulting, and informing). The results provide valuable lessons for the implementation of the full PaRIS survey in 2023 and illustrate how stakeholders could be more actively engaged in health services research and policymaking.

Learn more

Related publications

Access the technical and background documents of the project, country-specific publications and peer-reviewed articles here.

Related publications

Questionnaires

_{PaRIS Cycle 1 questionnaires}

PaRIS Patient Questionnaire (PaRIS-PQ)

This questionnaire assesses the experiences and outcomes of patients aged 45 years and older managed in primary care.

Access the questionnaire (PDF, 801 KB)

PaRIS Primary Care Practice Questionnaire (PaRIS-PCPQ)

This questionnaire assesses practice characteristics and characteristics of care delivered, with emphasis on care for chronic conditions.

Access the questionnaire (PDF, 630 KB)

Data & methodology

Patient-Reported Indicators Surveys (PaRIS) Public Use Files (PUF): These files contain 2023-2024 patient data from PaRIS Cycle 1 from 15 countries that have agreed to its release. These files are intended for statisticians, analysts and researchers who wish to undertake analysis and explore patient-reported outcomes and experiences in primary care. The materials available on this page include the data access form, codebook, data dictionary and patient questionnaire for PaRIS Cycle 1.

Patient-Reported Indicators Surveys (PaRIS) Public Use Files (PUF)

see the PaRIS PUF website

Participation

^{Cycle 1 Countries}

Australia
Belgium
Canada
Czechia
France
Greece
Iceland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway

Portugal
Romania
Saudi Arabia
Slovenia
Spain
Switzerland
United States
Wales ( UK)

^Stakeholders

The importance of incorporating patient input is essential when developing surveys to capture patient outcomes and experiences. To help ensure that the PaRIS International Survey of People Living with Chronic Conditions serves patients’ needs, OECD countries convened a Patient Advisory Panel to advise on survey design, implementation, and activities related to patient engagement.

Learn more about the advisory panel (PDF, 720 KB)

The International Expert Group provides expert advice to the PaRIS project, including data analysis and interpretation of results.

See the list of international experts (PDF, 487 KB)

The PaRIS Primary Care Professionals Network, composed of professionals with a background or strong connection to primary care, advises on the PaRIS project on matters related to the feasibility, relevance, and implementation of patient-reported indicators in routine primary care settings.

Events

Virtual

Webinar

Improving quality of care through the OECD Patient Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS): Using patient-reported data to support health policy

30 June 2026
Virtual

Webinar

Gender and socio-economic gaps: Results from the OECD Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS)

16 April 2026
Webinar

Does healthcare deliver for people living with multiple chronic conditions?

23 October 2025
Hybrid

Publication launch

Launch of the Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys flagship report

20 February 2025

Join PaRIS

How to join PaRIS Cycle 2

Find out how to join PaRIS

FAQ

The PaRIS International Survey of People Living with Chronic Conditions is the first international survey of patient-reported health outcomes and experiences of adults living with one or more chronic conditions who are managed in primary or other ambulatory care settings.

The PaRIS survey fills a critical information gap in primary care, focusing on (1) Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMS), which measure how patients experience healthcare and refers to practical aspects of care, such as accessibility, care co-ordination and provider-patient communication and (2) Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS), which provide information on how patients assess the results of the care they receive. PROMS contain information about outcomes such as quality of life, physical functioning and psychological well-being.

Read the FAQs for more information (PDF, 716 KB)

The OECD and its partners are committed to the highest standards of international compliance with data protection laws, regulation & rules.

Contact Us

Contact us

Get in touch with paris_survey@oecd.org to get more information about the PaRIS survey.

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