Beverly A. Weidmer|Cindy Brach|Ron D. Hays
Development and Evaluation of CAHPS® Survey Items Assessing How Well Healthcare Providers Address Health Literacy
RAND Corporation|Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
background complexity health information often exceeds patients skills understand use objective develop survey items assessing well healthcare providers communicate health information methods domains items consumer assessment healthcare providers systems cahps item set addressing health literacy identified environmental scan input stakeholders draft item set translated spanish pretested english spanish revised item set field tested randomly selected sample adult patients 2 sites using mail telephonic data collection itemscale correlations confirmatory factor analysis internal consistency reliability estimates estimated assess well survey items performed identify composite measures finally regressed cahps global rating provider item cahps core communication composite new health literacy composites results total 601 completed surveys obtained 52 response rate two composite measures identified 1 communication improve health literacy 16 items 2 well providers communicate medicines 6 items 2 composites significantly uniquely associated global rating provider communication improve health literacy p0001 b028 communication medicines composite p002 b004 2 composites cahps core communication composite accounted 51 variance global rating provider 5item subset communication improve health literacy composite accounted 90 variance original 16item composite conclusions study provides support reliability validity cahps item set addressing health literacy items serve assess whether healthcare providers communicated effectively patients tool quality improvement