501(c)(3) Nonprofit · Bellevue, WA
Better recovery begins with better evidence.
A nonprofit collaborative for patient-centered outcomes research
Global Clinical Outcomes Collaborative is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit that brings surgeons, hospitals, universities, and researchers together to study how patients actually recover after spine and musculoskeletal care. We provide trusted governance for multi-center clinical data so that everyday clinical experience can become evidence that improves care for future patients.
Turning Clinical Experience into Evidence for the Public Good.
Our Mission
Turning real-world recovery into better care.
To improve patient outcomes in spine and musculoskeletal medicine by supporting collaborative clinical research, responsible data stewardship, transparent benchmarking, and evidence-based clinical improvement.
We are organized exclusively for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Our work fosters independent scientific collaboration among surgeons, hospitals, universities, and researchers — with the goal of transforming real-world clinical experience into actionable evidence for the public benefit.
Core Value
Trust
Independent governance and responsible stewardship of collaborative clinical data.
Core Value
Rigor
Scientifically grounded outcomes research, transparent methods, and meaningful benchmarking.
Core Value
Together
Cross-institutional collaboration that turns real-world experience into better care for future patients.
Why It Matters
Modern recovery happens outside the hospital.
Surgical care is changing faster than the systems we use to measure it. Procedures are increasingly outpatient and minimally invasive, and most of a patient’s recovery now happens at home — often invisible to the institutions that performed the surgery.
Pain, anxiety, medication needs, wound concerns, mobility, return to work, and communication with the care team all evolve in the days and weeks after surgery. Traditional registries capture only isolated snapshots, often months after the procedure. The result is a persistent gap between what we measure and what actually matters to patients.
Global Clinical Outcomes Collaborative was created to close that gap — scientifically, ethically, and at scale.
What We Do
A neutral home for multi-institutional outcomes research.
The Collaborative provides the trusted framework that multi-center clinical research requires: independent governance, shared methodology, and a long-term nonprofit home for data that no single institution should own alone.
Collaborative outcomes research
We support multicenter studies that evaluate surgical recovery, complications, patient-reported outcomes, functional improvement, and the long-term value of care.
Responsible data stewardship
We provide governance principles for pooled clinical data — how data are collected, analyzed, shared, and used for research or quality improvement — with patient-entered outcomes protected as auditable, trustworthy evidence.
Patient-centered benchmarking
We help institutions understand outcomes in clinically meaningful ways, going beyond administrative or claims data to capture the recovery patterns that matter most to patients and surgeons.
Education and dissemination
We share findings through peer-reviewed publications, scientific presentations, educational resources, and collaborative learning across participating institutions.
Quality improvement
We translate real-world clinical data into opportunities to improve safety, recovery, access, and consistency of care across surgical specialties.
Our Approach in Practice
Evidence already in motion.
Our model is grounded in working surgical networks that already use digital tools to track recovery in real time. The patient-reported data being collected today demonstrates both the demand for, and the value of, the kind of trusted multi-center infrastructure the Collaborative is built to provide.
- patients contributing real-world recovery data
1,000+
patients contributing real-world recovery data
- report a very good experience with digital recovery tracking
91%
report a very good experience with digital recovery tracking
- surgeons across leading academic medical centers
30+
surgeons across leading academic medical centers
“Being able to share my progress with my care team and actually see my recovery on a graph made me feel connected and reassured.”
Patient, post-surgical recovery program
Patients also tell us where surgical follow-up still falls short — in symptom domains beyond pain, in survey design, and in continuity of communication. These insights directly shape the research questions, instruments, and quality benchmarks the Collaborative supports.
Participating Network
A growing community of clinical and academic partners.
The Collaborative supports specialty-specific research networks that meet its scientific and governance standards. Our founding partner network is the Endoscopic Spine Research Group (ESRG), a multi-center consortium of spine surgeons at leading academic medical centers conducting IRB-approved outcomes research on full-endoscopic spine surgery. ESRG demonstrates what is possible when surgeon-led collaboration is paired with modern digital tools — and the Collaborative provides its long-term nonprofit home.
Listed institutions reflect the affiliations of participating surgeons in the ESRG research network. Additional sites are pending administrative approval. The Collaborative welcomes new specialty networks aligned with its scientific and governance principles.
Founding partner network
Endoscopic Spine Research Group (ESRG)
Multi-center consortium of spine surgeons at leading academic medical centers conducting IRB-approved outcomes research on full-endoscopic spine surgery.
- University of Washington
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Vanderbilt University
- Weill Cornell Medicine
- Duke Health
- University of Utah
- University of South Florida
- Texas Back Institute
- Houston Methodist
- University of Miami
- SUNY Upstate Medical University
- Mayo Clinic
- Barrow Neurological Institute
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
- UC Davis
- University of Calgary
- Stanford Medicine
Leadership & Governance
Independent. Surgeon-led. Patient-centered.
The Collaborative is governed by a board of practicing surgeons and clinical scientists committed to independent, evidence-based research. Our founding leadership combines clinical expertise with deep experience in multi-institutional research and digital health.
Founding Board
Founder, Chair and President
Christoph Hofstetter, MD, PhD
Spine surgeon and clinical researcher; mission and scientific leadership
Director of Spine Outcomes and Digital Research Innovation
Galal Elsayed, MD
Spine surgeon, expert in clinical registries and advanced analytics
Director / Secretary
Cathryn Payne
Operations and program leadership; corporate records and minutes
Member
Wolfgang Ries
University Liaison; research oversight and governance
Member
Derek Zhi
Information Technology
The Collaborative is structured to maintain scientific independence from any commercial entity. All research outputs and benchmarks are governed by board-approved policies that prioritize patient benefit, scientific integrity, and transparent reporting.
Support Our Work
Help us build the evidence base patients deserve.
Every patient’s recovery tells a story — and too often, that story is lost after the patient leaves the hospital. Your support helps us capture, study, and learn from real-world recovery so that future patients receive safer, more effective, and more personalized care.
Why your gift matters
As an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Collaborative depends on philanthropic support to preserve the scientific independence that makes our work trustworthy. Donations directly fund the research infrastructure, governance work, and educational programs that no single hospital, surgeon, or company can sustain alone.
What your support enables
- Multi-center research studies that follow patients across the full arc of recovery, not just at fixed clinic visits.
- Independent data governance that protects the integrity of patient-reported outcomes.
- Open scientific dissemination so findings benefit patients and clinicians worldwide.
- Patient-centered benchmarking that gives hospitals a meaningful mirror for the care they deliver.
- Training and educational resources for the next generation of clinical researchers.
Ways to give
- Make a tax-deductible individual or family contribution.
- Establish a named research fund or program in your area of interest.
- Partner as an institutional or foundation funder of a specific study or initiative.
- Include the Collaborative in your estate or legacy planning.
Get Involved
Join the work.
We welcome surgeons, researchers, hospitals, and patient advocates who share our commitment to rigorous, transparent, and patient-centered clinical research.
Surgeons and clinician-scientists
Bring your patient cohort into a multi-center research framework.
Hospitals and academic centers
Partner on benchmarking and quality improvement.
Patient advocates and recovery researchers
Help us define what high-quality recovery actually looks like.
Industry and foundation partners
Support pre-competitive clinical evidence development.
About
About the Collaborative
Global Clinical Outcomes Collaborative was created to support a new model of clinical outcomes research: multicenter, digitally enabled, patient-centered, and governed with trust.
The Collaborative provides a nonprofit structure for research oversight, data stewardship, benchmarking methodology, and scientific dissemination. Its work is grounded in the belief that the most meaningful insights in healthcare often come from patients’ real recovery journeys — not only from claims data, billing codes, or isolated follow-up visits.
By working with surgeons and institutions across the country and internationally, the Collaborative aims to define better standards for measuring recovery, identifying complications, improving follow-up, and advancing evidence-based care across surgical specialties.
- Where we are
- 522 W Riverside Ave Suite N, Spokane, WA 99201-0581, United States
- Tax status
- Recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
- Independence
- Independent nonprofit research and data-governance organization. Related ecosystem brand to AcureonHealthcare; not owned, controlled, or directed by any commercial entity.