The new NHS focus on patient outcomes will specifically target getting those suffering long term conditions or mental illness back into work.
These two goals form part of a major set of targets introduced by the Department of Health (DoH) to focus on patient results.
It also released two tools to navigate the service after reforms are completed, which it said would improve choice and give patients greater information about GPs.
However Labour has dismissed the move as introducing more unwanted bureaucracy and targets that the government had previously promised to scrap.
The NHS Outcomes Framework consists of five general domains that the NHS must accept responsibility for and within this are 60 guidelines to measure its performance.
Two specific targets of the Enhancing quality of life for people with long-term conditions domain are increasing the Employment of people with long-term conditions and the Employment of people with mental illness.
The DoH said it will release these results quarterly with the aim of increasing the percentage of respondents in the Labour Force Survey in employment.
However it noted that changes to financial incentives (including those implicit in the benefit system) could impact the population's willingness to work.
Maps of local health services which patients will be able to access through the ‘Any Qualified Provider' policy starting from April 2012 and of GP practices available on NHS Choices were also unveiled.
Andrew Lansley MP, the Health Secretary, said the changes reflected the government's wish to prioritise improved patient focus within the NHS.
