Continuing medical education

Are you looking for innovative ways to improve your patients’ experiences?

Numerous studies have shown that a patient’s primary health care experience and, to some extent, their health care outcomes are largely dependent upon health care provider and patient interactions. That’s why Amerigroup Washington, Inc. offers this online learning course — What Matters Most: Improving the Patient Experience — to address gaps in and offer approaches to communication with patients.

Using compelling real-life stories that convey practical strategies for implementing patient care, providers learn how to apply best practices

Did you know?

• Substantial evidence points to a positive association between the patient experience and health outcomes
• Patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, demonstrate greater self-management skills and quality of life when they report positive interactions with their health care providers
• Patients reporting the poorest-quality relationships with their physicians were three times more likely to voluntarily leave the physician's practice than patients with highest-quality relationships

How will this benefit you and your office staff? You will learn tips and techniques to:

• Improve communication skills
• Build patent trust and commitment
• Expand your knowledge of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) survey

CAHPS® is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Like you, Amerigroup is committed to improving the patient experience in all interactions, and we are proud to work collaboratively with our provider network to provide support and tools to reach our goal.

Take the course!

What Matters Most: Improving the Patient Experience can be accessed using your smartphone, tablet or computer.

Get CME credits!

Providers may apply their completion of the course toward continuing medical education (CME) credit certification. The training has been reviewed and is acceptable for up to one prescribed credit by the American Academy of Family Physicians.*

This curriculum is available at no cost to providers and their clinical staff nationwide.

Sources

• What Is Patient Experience? Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. (Content last reviewed March 2017.) 
  https://www.ahrq.gov/cahps/about-cahps/patient-experience/index.html *
• CAHPS: Assessing Health Care Quality From the Patient's Perspective Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. (Content last reviewed March 2016.) 
  https://www.ahrq.gov/cahps/about-cahps/cahps-program/cahps_brief.html  *
• Physician Communication and Patient Adherence to Treatment: A Meta-analysis Haskard Zolnierek, Kelly B. and DiMatteo, M. Robin (2009.) 
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728700/ *

*This Enduring Material activity, What Matters Most: Improving the Patient Experience, has been reviewed and is acceptable for up to 1 elective credit by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). AAFP certification begins April 30, 2018. Term of approval is for one year from this date. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.