The capture-rate problem nobody names

Healthcare has spent years perfecting the instruments used to measure patient outcomes, and very little time on the surface patients use to answer them. The result is a familiar pattern: an excellent questionnaire, sent once, by email, at the end, to a small share of patients who reply.

From 2026 that matters more than ever. Patient-reported measures are part of what independent providers must publish, and participation itself is becoming a published metric. Low capture is no longer just a data-quality issue; it is visible.

The fix is a design problem before it is a clinical one. Capture across the journey rather than at the end. Ask little and often. Make it effortless on a phone. Then layer the mandated instruments onto the same spine, so experience and outcome sit on one record.

That is the thinking behind Straight Talking. The principle applies anywhere evidence is collected from people: optimise the surface first, then the instrument.