Abstract: Articles of manufacture including electronic machines including but not limited to computers, computer stations, computing devices, computer systems, software, computer readable memory and other electronic devices adapted to provide an index for a performance characteristic or measure for groups of people or institutions. The index values are risk adjusted to the varying population compositions for groups of people or institutions by comparison to a reference portfolio and are updated in real time to account for the changing constitution of the clusters in the portfolios. Methods of using the disclosed devices include the ability to provide a continuously updated benchmark for the comparison of medical, business or educational performance by providers or practitioners of such services that effect populations of individuals, and that is based on measurable outcomes. Additionally, the methods of using the disclosed devices include the ability to compare the effectiveness of different therapies.

Abstract: The present invention provides systems and methods for risk-adjusted performance analysis for a specific healthcare test, market or opportunity by evaluating patient outcomes against a real-time benchmark portfolio of patient outcomes. The risk-adjusted performance measures are based on financial methods such as CAPM, single-index model and arbitrage pricing theory methods. In place of examining the financial returns for a portfolio of companies against a financial benchmark, the outcomes for a patient or a portfolio of patients is compared to a benchmark portfolio of patient outcomes. The risk-adjusted performance measures including the Sharpe's measure, Treynor's measure, Jensen's measure and similar analysis tools are then used to compare different healthcare groups. The method has utility in many areas of healthcare including management of healthcare facilities, providing insurance reimbursement to a healthcare facility (e.g.