Performance Measurement and Public Reporting in Action. Massachusetts physician groups improving patient experience, study finds. Public release date: 20-Dec-2010 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Warren Robakmedia@rand.org 310-374-5455RAND Corporation Most Massachusetts physician groups are using results from a statewide patient survey to help improve patient experiences, but a significant number are not making use of the information or are making relatively limited efforts, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
Although physician communication skills are thought to be crucial to patient-centered care, the physician groups studied rarely pursued strategies that focused on improving physicians' ability to communicate with patients, according to the study published online by the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Instead, physician groups most commonly focused on other improvements, such as staff courteousness, scheduling practices and investments in electronic health records. Aligning Forces for Quality. Launches Next Phase of Flagship Initiative to Lift the Quality of American Health Care. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced today it will award grants of $1.3 million to 16 different health care collaboratives through its Aligning Forces for Quality initiative, continuing the foundation’s signature effort to improve the quality and value of U.S. health care.
The Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative was originally launched by RWJF in 2006 and remains the largest effort of its kind ever undertaken by a U.S. philanthropy. In total, RWJF has committed $300 million to projects to improve the quality and equality of U.S. health care with AF4Q being the flagship program of the portfolio. The program works to improve health care by engaging patients in their care, publicly reporting the performance of physicians and hospitals, and improving the quality of care delivered in each community.