These measures are based on the CAHPS Item Set for Addressing Health Literacy, a set of supplemental items for the CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey. The item set includes the following domains: Communication with Provider (Doctor), Disease Self-Management, Communication about Medicines, Communication about Test Results, and Communication about Forms. Samples for the survey are drawn from adults who have had at least one provider´s visit within the past year. Measures can be calculated at the individual clinician level, or at the group (e.g., practice, clinic) level. We have included in this submission items from the core Clinician/Group CAHPS instrument that are required for these supplemental items to be fielded (e.g., screeners, stratifiers). Two composites can be calculated from the item set: 1) Communication to improve health literacy (5 items), and 2) Communication about medicines (3 items)
Measure Specs
General Information
Numerator
We recommend that the Clinicians/Groups’ Health Literacy Practices measures be calculated using the top box scoring method. The top box score refers to the percentage of patients whose responses indicated excellent performance for a given measure. This approach is a kind of categorical scoring because the emphasis is on the score for a specific category of responses.
Two composites can be calculated from the item set: 1) Communication to improve health literacy (5 items), and 2) Communication about medicines (3 items)
Denominator
Adults with a visit to the provider for which the survey is being fielded within the last 12 months who responded to the item.
Exclusions
Exclusions are made when sample is drawn from provider records. Only patients 18 or older and those who have had a visit with a provider in the last 12 months are sampled. Core question 4 verifies that the respondent got care from the provider in the last 12 months.
Measure Record
Point of Contact
The CAHPS Item Set for Addressing Health Literacy is in the public domain.
Public Comments