Language Concordance and Interpreter Use in Primary Care: Perspectives from Spanish-preferring Patients.

Healthcare provided by bilingual providers or with assistance from qualified interpreters is intended to improve patient-provider communication. Despite federal laws requiring healthcare facilities to provide access to appropriate interpretation language assistance services for patients not proficient in English, many Spanish-preferring patients receive primary care from providers not fluent in Spanish or who regularly use formal interpreters. Partnering with two urban SafetyNet providers in Southern California, we conducted focus groups in Spanish with Spanish-preferring patients who received care from providers who: (1) were Spanish-qualified, (2) used formal interpreters, and (3) used informal interpreters or other communication strategies.

Hospice Use and Spiritual Support for Family and Friend Caregivers at the End of Life and During Bereavement.

ContextAs family and friend caregivers navigate care recipients' end of life and death, they may benefit from spiritual support. Hospice care typically includes access to chaplain care and grief support. However, this connection is underexplored.

Factors Influencing Spiritual Care for African Americans in Hospice in the United States: An Exploratory Study of the Perspectives of Their Caregivers, Clergy and Hospice Chaplains.

Caregivers of African American hospice patients report unsatisfactory spiritual support in hospice. Hospice professionals, chaplains, clergy, and policymakers need to understand factors influencing spiritual care of African American hospice patients to advance equitable end-of-life and hospice care. We partnered with large community hospice in Georgia, USA, and interviewed caregivers of African American hospice decedents, their clergy, and chaplains.

Aspects of Patient Safety Culture Most Associated With Employees' Overall Rating of Patient Safety and Whether Employees Reported Safety Events: Overall and for Hospitals Predominantly Serving Black Patients.

Objectives: Care for black patients in the United States is concentrated in relatively few hospitals-known as black serving hospitals (BSHs). BSHs have high rates of safety events. Yet, it is unknown what aspects of patient safety culture are associated with employee assessments of patient safety or reporting safety events, and whether these patterns differ for hospitals predominantly serving black patients.

Language Concordance and Interpreter Use for Spanish-Preferring Patients: Qualitative Study of Perspectives from Primary Care Providers.

Background: Poor quality communication and language barriers lead to worse care experiences and inferior health care outcomes for those with limited English proficiency. Fewer than one-third of outpatient providers regularly use professional interpreters when communicating with non-English preferring patients. Effective strategies to address language barriers in primary care are lacking and in demand.

Racial and ethnic disparities in post-acute care service utilization after stroke.

Evidence examining disparities in post-acute care (PAC) utilization among various racial and ethnic groups after stroke and the influence of social determinants of health (SDOH) in these decisions is lacking. Thus, we searched the literature from January 2000 to November 2023 regarding PAC among individuals after stroke through: 1) Pubmed, 2) Scopus, 3) Web of Science, 4) Embase, and 5) CINAHL. We found 14 studies.

Telephone follow-up on Medicare patient surveys remains critical.

Objectives: Patient experience surveys are essential to measuring patient-centered care, a key component of health care quality. Low response rates in underserved groups may limit their representation in overall measure performance and hamper efforts to assess health equity. Telephone follow-up improves response rates in many health care settings, yet little recent work has examined this for surveys of Medicare enrollees, including those with Medicare Advantage.

A perspective on the use of patient-reported experience and patient-reported outcome measures in ambulatory healthcare.

Introduction: Patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) are patient reports about their healthcare, whereas patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are reports about their functioning and well-being regarding physical, mental, and social health. We provide a perspective on using PREMs and PROMs in ambulatory healthcare.

Areas Covered: We conducted a narrative review of the literature about using PREMs and PROMs in research and clinical practice, identified challenges and possibilities for addressing them, and provided suggestions for future research and clinical practice.

Sociodemographic Disparities in the Use of Hospice by U.S. Nursing Home Residents: A Systematic Review.

Hospice can improve end-of-life (EOL) outcomes in U.S. nursing homes (NHs).

Taking Action to Support Nursing Home Resident Well-Being: Perspectives of U.S. Nursing Home Staff During COVID-19.

Background And Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) negatively influenced resident well-being in nursing homes (NHs). We examine perceptions and experiences of U.S.

Urban and Rural Disparities in COVID-19 Outcomes in the United States: A Systematic Review.

This systematic review investigates disparities in COVID-19 outcomes (infections, hospitalizations, and deaths) between urban and rural populations in the United States. Of the 3,091 articles screened, 55 were selected. Most studies ( = 43) conducted national analyses, using 2020 data, with some extending into 2021.

Mental Health Support for First Responders Provided Outside of California's Workers' Compensation System.

Objective: Concern about psychiatric injuries for first responders has grown. We examine alternatives to workers' compensation (WC).

Method: We conducted 15 interviews across five California departments contracted with non-WC mental health (MH) providers.

Does an "EZ" Survey Improve the Data Quality of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Clinician and Group Survey 3.1?

Completing self-administered patient experience surveys is challenging for many patients. We randomized adult patients receiving care from an urban safety net provider to complete the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Clinician and Group Survey 3.1 (CG-CAHPS 3.

Associations of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Clinician and Group Survey Scores with Interventions and Site, Provider, and Patient Factors: A Systematic Review of the Evidence.

Patient experience is a key aspect of care quality. Since the 2007 release of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Clinician and Group (CG-CAHPS) survey, no systematic review of factors associated with CG-CAHPS scores has been reported. We reviewed 52 peer-reviewed English language articles published in the United States using CG-CAHPS data.

Medicare Advantage customer service is used most by higher-need patients.

Objectives: To examine characteristics of Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees who use their plan's customer service to help plans understand how to better meet members' needs.

Study Design: National sample of 259,533 respondents to MA Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey enrolled in any of the 559 MA contracts in 2022.

Methods: We assessed the association between self-reported customer service use in the prior 6 months and enrollee demographic, coverage, health, and health care utilization characteristics.

Roles of Chaplains and Clergy in Spiritual Care for African Americans in Hospice: A Pilot Study.

ContextSpiritual care is patient and caregiver spiritual/religious needs and those needs. Caregivers of African American hospice patients are more likely to report worse emotional/religious support. Yet, spiritual care delivery and roles of community clergy and chaplains for African American hospice patients are not well understood.

How the CAHPS Clinician and Group Patient Experience Survey Data Have Been Used in Research: A Systematic Review.

Purpose: Patient experience is a key aspect of care quality. The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Clinician and Group (CG-CAHPS) survey measures experiences with ambulatory care providers to inform public reporting, pay-for-performance initiatives, interventions, patient choice of physicians/practices, and quality improvement. Since the survey's 2007 release, no systematic review of its use in research has been published.

Patient Surveys Are Used Most Often to Assess Health Care Innovations, Rigorous Methods Are Less Common.

The Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality Healthcare Innovations Exchange (IE) was developed to collect and report on innovative approaches to improving health care. The team reviewed 348 IE innovations including patient-reported satisfaction or experience measures. Innovations most often measured overall rating of care (61% of innovations), followed by access (52%) and provider-patient communication (12%).

Trends in HCAHPS Survey Scores, 2008-2019: A Quality Improvement Perspective.

Background: HCAHPS' 2008 initial public reporting, 2012 inclusion in the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program (HVBP), and 2015 inclusion in Hospital Star Ratings were intended to improve patient experiences.

Objectives: Characterize pre-COVID-19 (2008-2019) trends in hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems (HCAHPS) scores.

Research Design: Describe HCAHPS score trends overall, by phase: (1) initial public reporting period (2008-2013), (2) first 2 years of HVBP (2013-2015), and (3) initial HCAHPS Star Ratings reporting (2015-2019); and by hospital characteristics (HCAHPS decile, ownership, size, teaching affiliation, and urban/rural).

Is Primary Care Patient Experience Associated with Provider-Patient Language Concordance and Use of Interpreters for Spanish-preferring Patients: A Systematic Literature Review.

Background: Healthcare provided by a bilingual provider or with the assistance of an interpreter improves care quality; however, their associations with patient experience are unknown. We reviewed associations of patient experience with provider-patient language concordance (LC) and use of interpreters for Spanish-preferring patients.

Method: We reviewed articles from academic databases 2005-2023 following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and Joanna Briggs Institute Checklists to rate study quality.

Narrative comments about pediatric inpatient experiences yield substantial information beyond answers to closed-ended CAHPS survey questions.

Purpose: Adults' comments on patient experience surveys explain variation in provider ratings, with negative comments providing more actionable information than positive comments. We investigate if narrative comments on the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) survey of inpatient pediatric care (Child HCAHPS) account for global perceptions of the hospital beyond that explained by reports about specific aspects of care.

Methods: We analyzed 545 comments from 927 Child HCAHPS surveys completed by parents and guardians of hospitalized children with at least a 24-h hospital stay from July 2017 to December 2020 at an urban children's hospital.

Associations of Primary Care Provider Burnout with Quality Improvement, Patient Experience Measurement, Clinic Culture, and Job Satisfaction.

Background: Burnout among providers negatively impacts patient care experiences and safety. Providers at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) are at high risk for burnout due to high patient volumes; inadequate staffing; and balancing the demands of patients, families, and team members.

Objective: Examine associations of provider burnout with their perspectives on quality improvement (QI), patient experience measurement, clinic culture, and job satisfaction.