Patient Communication & Education
Educating your patients increases their satisfaction with your practice, keeps them aware of best wellness practices and makes your claims process more efficient. Take the time to develop and provide educational resources and you’ll have better informed, more engaged patients.
Communicating with your patients
- Improve communication with your patients - The vulnerability that patients often feel in any health care setting can result in them being slow to share their concerns. Make your office a welcoming environment for open communication with this resource.
- Helping patients understand their payment responsibilities - Industry trends indicate that both payers and employers are shifting more of the responsibility and cost of health care treatment and payment to the patient. Learn how to establish or revise your practice’s payment and collection policies accordingly with the help of this resources, developed by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Kentucky Medical Association.
- Health literacy and patient safety: Help patients understand -The AMA and the AMA Foundation have been leaders in bringing health literacy issues into the mainstream. The AMA also led national physician efforts to measurably improve patient safety and quality care.
Working together, the AMA and the AMA Foundation have created a variety of health literacy educational tools to provide a foundation for physicians to understand this topic and impact on health. The 2007 Health Literacy and Patient Safety: Help Patients Understand kit is the AMA Foundation's primary tool for informing physicians, health care professionals and patient advocates about health literacy.
- Making your practice patient friendly - Given that 89 to 90 million adults in the United State have limited health literacy, you probably see patients every day who have trouble reading and understanding health information. This resource provides you with some simple steps your practice can take to help empower your patients, increase adherence, and improve their overall health.
- Physician resource guide to self-management support - The AMA is committed to helping doctors help their patients. To fulfill this goal, the AMA produces innovative resources designed to bridge gaps in the delivery of medical care. The “Physician resource guide to patient self-management support” introduces patient self-management support concepts and presents selected resources and practice implementation tools. The resource guide builds on existing information in the field of patient self-management. It is organized to direct physicians to resources that will help them implement cost-effective techniques at various levels of the health care system in order to help patients achieve better health outcomes and increase their quality of life.
- Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers - The Physician's Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers was developed by the AMA in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Please note that the guide is provided in PDF format and that the title pages of each chapter may appear blank; scroll down until you reach the content. To order a hard copy or CD ROM, please send your name and preference to Lela Manning
Educational resources for patients
- Understanding your health insurance policy and payment practices -The AMA and Kentucky Medical Association have developed a guide for physicians to share with patients so that they can better understand their role in the insurance claims process. Understanding your health insurance policy and payment practices defines key terms and offers a high-level overview of how the physician practice, the health insurer and patients interact. When patients understand their responsibilities, they can assist in making the process better.
- Patient education on differences between Medicare and Medicare Advantage - The AMA has created two new educational resources for current and potential Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. AMA members can use these patient educational resources to help educate their patients and staff on the benefits and problems associated with participation in Medicare Advantage plans. The first resource, “What you need to know about Medicare Advantage,” provides basic information on the program, including what to expect in terms of benefits, enrollment and health insurer marketing of these plans. The second resource, “Which plan is right for you,” provides a brief overview of the different types of Medicare Advantage plans, including HMOs, PPOs and private-fee-for-service plans.
- Team Up to Stay Healthy (resources for your patients) - The "Team Up to Stay Healthy" brochure (Spanish version) can help your patients understand and take advantage of their options now covered by Medicare. Produced by the AMA and AARP in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this free brochure:
- Explains the types of physician visits covered by Medicare in clear, simple language
- Helps patients adequately prepare for their physician visits (i.e., what to ask, what to bring, what to expect, etc.)
- Gives patients a brief overview of common preventive screenings
- Offers patients access to additional information and helpful resources about their covered services
- Caregiver Self-Assessment Questionnaire (resource for your patients) - Caregivers are often so concerned with caring for their relative’s needs that they lose sight of their own wellbeing. The “Caregiver Health Self-assessment Questionnaire (Spanish version)” will help caregivers analyze their own behavior and health risks and, with their physician's help, make decisions that will benefit both the caregiver and the patient. The “Caregiver Self-assessment Questionnaire” will enable physicians to identify and provide preventive services to an at-risk but hidden population and improve communication and enhance the physician-family caregiver health partnership.
