Asking patients could provide quality answers

A move toward engaging patients in their care may result in better adherence to treatment.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Jan. 22, 2007.

Washington -- Who cares what patients think? Everyone who cares about quality health care. At least that was the message of a recent Washington, D.C., briefing exploring issues of access, patient engagement in care and physician communication.

Patient-centered care is increasingly regarded as an important part of good medicine, deserving a place beside clinical technique when it comes to rating the treatment provided by physicians and hospitals, said experts at last month's event, organized by the Alliance for Health Reform. The Alliance is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that advocates for affordable health care for all.

The best way to determine what patients want is to ask them. That's what the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality decided when it began its Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey in 1995.

The surveys are considered important measures in an era of pay-for-performance and accountability. Survey data are used by the National Committee on Quality Assurance and Medicare, said Charles Darby, co-project officer on the CAHPS survey. The data are available to federal employees and TRICARE members. "We can say that 138 million Americans are enrolled in health plans for which CAHPS data are collected," Darby said.

The project's ultimate goal is quality improvement, he said. There are two broad types of quality measures: clinical measures, and those that judge the interpersonal aspects of care. CAHPS surveys focus on the latter. "The kinds of things measured by CAHPS can only be answered by the patients," Darby said.