AHRQ Findings Show Modest Improvements in Patient-Provider Communication

Health providers are paying more attention to communicating more effectively with patients and their families about their care, although progress is occurring at a modest pace, according to findings from AHRQ’s newly released Chartbook on Patient- and Family-Centered Care. Of the 20 measures of patient-centered care collected in the report, 17 showed improvement and three showed no change. While none of the measures improved quickly, none showed worsening quality. One measure, communication between patients and hospital staff about getting discharged from the hospital, improved each year between 2009 and 2013. But certain groups reported worse quality of patient-centered care, including poor patients compared with high-income patients, blacks compared with whites and Hispanics compared with whites. AHRQ offers a variety of resources to improve engagement between clinicians and patients.

2014 National Healthcare Quality & Disparities Report Chartbooks

Each year since 2003, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has produced the National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report. These reports to Congress are mandated in the Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-129). Beginning with the 2014 reports, findings on health care quality and health care disparities are integrated into a single document that provides a comprehensive overview of the quality of health care received by the general U.S. population and disparities in care experienced by different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. Information on individual measures are available through chartbooks. The chartbooks will be posted monthly beginning in April.

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Page last reviewed May 2015

Internet Citation: 2014 National Healthcare Quality & Disparities Report Chartbooks. May 2015. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/2014chartbooks/index.html