Physicians With High Productivity And Satisfaction Scores Employ Strong Patient-Centered Communication Skills

People are forever telling me that I am wasting my time talking to providers about the need to improve their patient communication skills.  Naysayers typically cite one of the following reasons for why things will never change:

Reason 1 – Every physician thinks they already have good patient communication skills.

Reason 2 – Physicians don’t have time to talk to patients

Reason 3 – Physicians don’t get paid to talk to patients

Reason 1 is relatively easy to debunk. After all, if all physicians were really such good communicators:

• poor communications skills wouldn’t consistently top the list of patient complaints about physicians
• patient non-adherence wouldn’t be so high since physician and patients would always agree on what is wrong and what needs to be done
• patients would not be walking out of their doctor’s office not understanding what they were told
• patients would not experience so many communication-related medical errors

Reason 3 requires a little straightforward logic:

Since physicians are paid to diagnose and treat patients presenting problems…and the accuracy of their diagnosis and treatment depends upon their physicians’ ability to elicit and listen to the patient’s story…then indeed physicians are already being paid to talk to patients.

Reason 3 (physicians don’t have time) has always been hard to address. That is until now.

Most us tend to think about physician time on a zero sum basis.  Take the office visit for example.  Providers will argue that they either spend more time trying to be patient-centered (associated with great patient experiences) or they can use less time to diagnose and treat patients the way they have always done – but no way can they do both at the same time.

A recent published study conducted by HealthPartners in Minneapolis suggests that physician time is not a zero sum game – that providers can in fact be productive while at the same time creating a satisfying patient experience.

Individual productivity and patient experience scores were calculated and plotted for 22 HealthPartners physicians using a scatter diagram like that shown in Figure 1 (for demonstration purposes only). What the study found was that a relatively equal number of physicians fell into each of 4 quadrants – strong productivity/strong satisfaction, strong productivity/weak satisfaction, weak productivity/strong satisfaction and weak productivity/weak satisfaction.

Figure 1

The researchers then looked to explain the difference between physicians in each of the quadrants. They ended up identifying a set of “behaviors and characteristics” to help explain why some physicians had strong productivity/strong satisfaction scores while others did not.

Physicians in the strong productivity/strong satisfaction quadrant exhibited the following behaviors and characteristics:

• Focused on teaching and explanations
• Conveys warmth from the start
• Well-planned flow of visit with focus on patient’s agenda
• Controlled script with clear parts
• Extremely personable—connects with every patient
• Always looking for buy-in from the patient that s/he fully understands
• Recap the history: “I read your chart …”
• Confident but not arrogant
• Finishes dictation and coding each day
• Clinic staff enters orders and prepares after-visit summary

Physicians in the weak productivity/weak satisfaction quadrant exhibited the following behaviors and characteristics:

• Lack of “being there” emotionally
• Lack of smiling
• Abrupt actions
• Behavior changes when not interested in the “case”
• Patients kept waiting and wondering
• No handshake
• Sense of interrogating to get a diagnosis
• No attempt to match the patient’s energy

What struck me about these lists was that were dominated by the presence (strong productivity/strong satisfaction) or absence (weak productivity/weak satisfaction) of communication-related “behaviors and characteristics.”

Perhaps not so surprisingly, the behaviors and characteristics of physicians in the strong productivity/strong satisfaction are consistent with those traits commonly associated with a patient-centered style of communications. This evidence belies the conventional belief among physicians that they will be less productive (rather than more productive) by adopting a patient-centered style of communications with their patients.

Based upon the evidence, HealthPartners has since gone on to provide its physicians with useful guidelines for how to improve their productivity and patient experience scores.

Take Aways Physicians and practice managers need to seriously reexamine:

1. their assumptions about the value of and barriers to improving their patient communication skills
2. the evidence in support of the adoption patient-centered communications skills and styles

Physicians and managers should consider assessing the quality and effectiveness of their existing patient communication skills. The last time most physicians focused on their patient communication skills was back in medical school.

Implement interventions and guidelines designed to improve the patient-centered communication skills of physicians and their care teams.

That’s what I think…what’s your opinion?

Sources:

Boffeli, T., et al. Patient Experience and Physician Productivity: Debunking the Mythical Divide at HealthPartners Clinics. The Permanente Journal/ Fall 2012/ Volume 16 No. 4.

Patient Activation Is Only Half The Solution – Physicians Need To Be Activated As Well

Not long ago Nick Dawson, a friend and fellow blogger, paid me the compliment of saying I had inspired a post of his.   Well Nick now you have inspired me…and this post is the result.

Regarding the February Health Affairs edition on Patient Engagement the and follow-on Washington D.C. briefing, Nick writes:

Personally, I was disheartened by some word choices. Implying patients need to be activated suggests patients are passive and something has to be done to them in order for them to care about their health and interactions with healthcare providers. That misses the mark.

What about physician activation? … We should be helping health systems and providers find ways to reduce the stress and fear for patients who are already engaged.

Nick is right. 

The “Belle of the Health Affairs Ball” based on the social media coverage was Judith Hibbard’s interesting work linking health care costs to a person’s level of health activation.   While Dr. Hibbard takes pains to differentiate “activation” from “engagement,” most people are quick to conflate the two.  (Patient-centered communication bears a close resemblance to patient activation as well.)  Nick’s point is that focusing just on what the patient brings to the party in terms of their “knowledge, skills and confidence” is only half the problem.

What about physician activation?  Where in the Health Affairs special, or anywhere else for that matter, are discussions about the need to make sure that physicians (and other clinicians) have the knowledge, skills and confidence to effectively manage all the “already engaged” patients among us?

It Can’t Just Be About Fixing Patient Behavior

For too long, the focus among health care thought leaders has been all about fixing the patient.   If only patient were more engaged, more knowledgeable, more compliant, more trusting, more prepared, ask more questions, etc. 

There is a significant body of research which suggests that provider behaviors (like their communication style) are just as responsible as patients for many of the short coming in health care today.

Just as PAM research has shown that more activated patients generate lower costs…studies have shown that the physicians with strong patient-centered communication skills have lower costs as well.   I guess you could say that physicians with a physician-directed, bio-medical communication style have an equivalent of a 1-2 level of activation whereas physicians with a patient-centered communication style have an equivalent activation level of 3 to 4.

Which Comes First – Activated Physicians Or Activated Patients?

I would argue that the real challenge facing providers today is to how to avoid disengaging or deactivating otherwise engaged and activated patients.

That’s because most people are already engaged in their own care, albeit not necessarily in the same way that providers want or expect.   So too, patients may well believe that they have the skills and knowledge they feel they need to deal with their own health…even if it is different from those skills, etc. measured by tools like PAM.

See : Patients Are Often More Engaged In Their Health Than Providers Think

In fact there is evidence to support this.  Patients with a regular source of care displayed significantly lower levels of patient activation that those without a regular source of care.  According to the researchers, “one possible explanation is that respondents with a regular physician are more likely to take a passive, deferential role in their care, believing their health care needs are being met by their provider(s).” *

The degree to which there is a “meeting of the minds” on engagement and activation between patient and physician, particularly during the office visit, will determine if patients are as engaged and activated when they leave the doctor’s office as they were when they entered.  It all boils down to how well the physician and patient are able to communicate.

Here’s what I mean.  How engaged or activated is a person going to be if what they have to say is interrupted, ignored or otherwise dismissed by busy, stressed  clinicians?  Is a patient going to share information or new skills they found on the internet with their physician if they are dismissed as a Googler?

The Take Away?

Nothing against PAM or Dr. Hibbard’s work which stand on its own merits.  Rather, it’s about health care being a two-way affair…with patients and clinicians both have a stake in health outcomes.  The sooner health care providers, academic researchers, and health publications like Health Affairs realize this…the sooner things can improve.

That’s what I think. What’s your opinion?

Sources:

Levinson, W., Lesser, C. S., & Epstein, R. M. (2010). Developing physician communication skills for patient-centered care. Health Affairs, 29(7).

Olson, D. P., & Windish, D. M. (2010). Communication discrepancies between physicians and hospitalized patients. Archives of Internal Medicine, 170(15), 1302-7. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2010.239

Roumie, C. L., Greevy, R., Wallston, K. a, Elasy, T. a, Kaltenbach, L., Kotter, K., Dittus, R. S., et al. (2010). Patient centered primary care is associated with patient hypertension medication adherence. Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

Bertakis, K. D., & Azari, R. (2011). Patient-centered care is associated with decreased health care utilization. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, 24(3), 229-39.

* Alexander, J. a, Hearld, L. R., Mittler, J. N., & Harvey, J. (2011). Patient-Physician Role Relationships and Patient Activation among Individuals with Chronic Illness. Health Services Research, 1-23.

Patient Engagement – Here’s Why It’s So Hard For Health Care Providers

E-mail me at stwilkins at gmail.com for a complimentary copy of my Patient Engagement White Paper

Patient-Centered Communications – Does “Lack of Time” Justify Physician Reluctance To Adopt It?

I talk with lot of physicians about the need to improve the quality of communications between physicians and patients.   Regular followers of my work will know that I am an advocate for the adoption of patient-centered communication skills by the physician and provider community.

Physicians with whom I talk seldom disagree as to the need for better physician-patient communications.   They know that physician communication skills top the list of patient complaints about their physicians, i.e., my doctor doesn’t listen,” “my doctor ignores me,” and so on.   Rather, they simply dismiss the subject out of hand as being impractical due to a “lack of time” on the part of most physicians.

I can understand their perspective.   Primary care physicians in particular are faced with sicker, more demanding patients, increased payer and regulatory requirements, and are constantly pressured to see more patients.

Yet physician waiting rooms and exam rooms are full of engaged patients (otherwise they wouldn’t be there) who have nothing to do but read outdated magazine.

What would happen if physicians actually put patients to work during wait time?

Here’s what I mean…

What if physicians integrated patient “wait time” into the office visit by:

• Talking to patients (via printed handouts, electronic media, patient portals, etc.) about their evolving new role (and that of the physician and other providers) under health reform.  Contrary to the popular press which touts the empowered patient, most of us still assume the traditional “sick role” during the office visit.  The sick role is characterized by patient passivity, limited information sharing, and minimal question-asking.

• Teaching people while waiting how (using the same media as above) to become “better patients.”   I recall an article where physicians were asked 5 things they wished their patients knew.  At the top of the physicians’ “wish list” was a desire for patient’s to be better prepared and more focused during the visit.  The point being that more prepared patients would help the physician get to the correct diagnosis and treatment plan faster

All of us, beginning in childhood, are socialized into playing the sick role when interacting with physicians.   Just as chronic disease patients needing to develop self care skills and confidence in their self care skills…patients need to be taught skills for (and develop confidence in) how to more effectively talk to and collaborate with their physicians.

•  Laying out a game plan (over a series of visits) for teaching new and established patients when and how to effectively contribute to the medical interview (exam).   Given an average wait time of 22 minutes per primary care visit, it is not reasonable to assume that patients can be taught the above in the course of 1 or 2 visits.  But patients with chronic conditions often visit their PCP 6-8 times a year.  This would afford plenty of time (2-3 hours a year) for physicians to teach (and practice) individual skills to patients (i.e., agenda setting and prioritization, question asking skills, self-care management skills, new medication considerations, etc.).   By reinforcing lessons learned by patients over the course of several visits, it is reasonable to expect that both patient and physician will become more proficient in the use of their time together.

How Exactly Will Better Physician-Patient Communication Lead To More Productive Visits?

Research has consistently shown that patient-centered communications (versus traditional physician-directed communications) can result in more productive office visits as measured by 1)  the amount/quality of information shared by patients, 2) the number of questions asked by patients, and 3)  and the level of patient retention of information shared by physicians.

These same studies show that the adoption of patient-centered communications adds little if any more time to the length of office visits.  Once patients and physicians become proficient in the use of patient-centered communications methods,  physicians may well be able to do more during the visit but in less time.  Here are some of the techniques  characteristic of patient-centered  communications associated with increased visit productivity:

•  Concise visit agenda setting and prioritization wherein both physician and patient  agreed to what can be discussed within the time allowed.  This  also eliminates  the “oh by the way” introduction of last-minute patient agenda items that can occur at the end of the visit.

•  More concise  sharing of relevant information by the patient.

• Greater physician-patient agreement as to the diagnosis and treatment.

• More collaborative decision-making

•  More information retention by patients (how to take new Rx, etc.)

• Greater patient adherence

That’s my opinion…what’s yours?

Related Post:

Do Medical Home Physician Really Communicate Any Better Than Non-PCMH Physicians?

Six Seconds To More Effective Physician-Patient Communications

Sources:

Politi, M. C., & Street, R. L. (2011). The importance of communication in collaborative decision making: facilitating shared mind and the management of uncertainty. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 17(4), 579-84.

Bertakis, K. D., & Azari, R. (2011). Patient-centered care is associated with decreased health care utilization. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, 24(3), 229-39. doi:10.3122/jabfm.2011.03.100170

Marvel, K, Epstein, R, Flowers, K, Beckman H.  Soliciting the Patient’s Agenda, Have We Improved?  JAMA. 1999;281:283-287.

ACO Success Will Depend Upon The Patient-Centered Communication Skills Of Providers

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and “bundled payments” are set to play a central role in the Affordable Care Act.  Under accountable care, physicians and hospitals would be paid out of a “single payment” from CMS or health insurers for all the care needed to treat a clinically defined “episode of care” like a heart attack.   The premise is that bundle payments will incentivize physicians and hospitals to deliver more efficient, high quality care.

Much has been written about the health information technology infrastructure needed to support ACOs.  Experts also underscore the need for providers (physicians and hospitals) to get patients with conditions like heart failure more engaged in prevention and self-care.  After all, as much as 90% of the “care” for chronic conditions like heart failure is provided by the patient and their care givers at home.  But effectively engaging patients has been a difficult nut to crack for health care providers.

What Can ACO Providers Do To Increase Patient Engagement?

Here’s the short answer – improve the quality of communications between physicians and patients.  After all, physician-patient communications is how most patients are diagnosed and treated.

The degree to which patients and physicians agree on key aspects of the diagnosis and treatment is said to be an indicator of communication effectiveness.  Disagreements such as the nature or severity of a medical condition or the need for a new medication represent a breakdown in physician-patient communications.  Such breakdowns are common and are closely associated with patient behavioral issues such as non-compliance, excessive health care use, and decreased satisfaction.

High levels of physician-patient agreement are linked with more desirable patient outcomes and behavior.  Physicians that use a patient-centered style of communication tend to report much higher levels of agreement with their patients on critical diagnosis and treatment issues.

The Current State of Physician-Patient Communications

A 2011 study of patients diagnosed with a heart condition, and being seen in a public hospital cardiology clinic, illustrates the scope of the communication problems facing not just ACOs…but all health care providers today.

In the study, 55% of patients diagnosed with heart failure did not recognize (nor agree with their doctor) that they had heart failure.  Even more disconcerting was the finding that “only 15% of those with hypertension agreed with their doctor’s diagnosis.”

Physician-Patient Disagreement And A Lack of Patient-Centered Communication Are Greatest Amongst Population Groups That Are The Sickest And Most In Need

African-Americans experience heart failure at a rate this is 20 times higher than their white counterparts.  Physicians that treat blacks are less likely, according to researchers, to use a patient-centered communication style.

Numerous studies have revealed that when treating black patients, as opposed to white patients, physicians tend to “provide less health information, are more physician-directed (versus patient-centered), spend less time building a rapport with patients, and are more verbally dominant.“  In other words, the patients that are in greatest need for patient-centered communications, and the benefits it provides, are presently the least likely to receive it.  The lack of high quality patient-centered communication is not limited to minority groups.  An estimated 60% of practicing physicians use a physician-directed communication style.

 The Take Away?

Needless to say, the quality of physician-patient communications in the U.S. does not bode well for the success of ACOs.  Health plans, physician groups and hospitals looking to realize the financial benefits of bundled payments and accountable care should give serious consideration to investing in benchmarking tools and communications interventions that will measurably improve the quality of physician-patient communication both in the office and hospital.

That’s my opinion…what’s yours?

Sources:

Cené, C. et al. The Effect of Patient Race and Blood Pressure Control on Patient-Physician Communication. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2009. 24(9):1057–64

Sarkar, U. et al. Patient-physicians’ information exchange in outpatient cardiac care: time for a heart to heart? Patient Education and Counseling. 2011. Nov;85(2):173-9.

Johnson, R. et al. Patient race/ethnicity and quality of patient-physician communication during medical visits. American Journal of Public Health, 2004. 94(12), 2084-90.