The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded market research to test alternative messaging to identify how to better engage physicians in supporting performance measurement (RWJF, 2009). Several take-aways from this research may help with physician messaging about a physician feedback reporting system, including the importance of:
- Acknowledging flaws in earlier generations of measurement and reporting efforts. This acknowledgment reduces the risk that physicians will immediately tune out and instead creates an opening to discuss the current measurement and reporting effort and to seek physician input.
- Emphasizing two benefits for physicians’ own practices: physicians will be able to assess their own care and increase learning opportunities.
- Addressing the concern among some physicians that performance measurement often captures variables outside their control, such as patient adherence to treatment protocols and patient health status.
- Emphasizing that patients also have a role in performance improvement, which might be activated (e.g., by patient education about disease management).
Developers of physician feedback reports might want to consider explicitly incorporating these findings into their report engagement and dissemination strategies, be they in person, hard copy, email, or Web based. See sample message in Text Box 8.
Text Box 8. Sample message to introduce measurement/reporting that tested well with physicians
| Performance measurement data can help physicians assess what is working in their own practice. Most physicians don’t have accurate, complete data on the care provided in their practice. Without measurement, it is hard to know if the steps physicians are taking are as effective as they want them to be (RWJF, 2009). |
*This section was excerpted and adapted from Shaller D, Kanouse D. Working paper. Private physician feedback reports: a decision guide.
Reference
Aligning Forces for Quality. Communicating with physicians about performance measurement. Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Winter 2009. http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2009/rwjf69320. Accessed January 27, 2016.
