Disease Management Association of America and J.D.Power & Associates Collaborate On Patient Satisfaction Effort WASHINGTON, DC—The Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) is collaborating with J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information firm, to create a standardized and validated patient satisfaction survey tool for disease management (DM) program evaluation. The two organizations are joined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), URAC, and the Association of Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Healthcare (AAAHC) in identifying a set of core questions for assessing patient satisfaction with DM programs. "The project has been guided by the Patient Satisfaction Workgroup, a subcommittee of the DMAA Quality and Research Committee. It arose from the increasing interest in DM outcomes due, in part, to the advent of the Medicare Health Support program. JD Power and Associates bring a great depth of knowledge and expertise to this project. Overall, the development of the survey tool is enriched by the variety of vantage points represented in the Workgroup," states Don Fetterolf, MD, of Highmark, Inc, and Chair of DMAA’s Quality and Research Committee. The Workgroup began this effort in 2004 with a survey of DMAA members to gain a better understanding of how patient satisfaction is being measured. A report from the 2004 findings will appear in the journal, Disease Management, in fall 2005. Steven D. Wood, PhD, Executive Director of the Healthcare Division of J.D. Power and Associates adds, "This collaboration provides a unique opportunity to help disease management organizations improve the quality of care and services provided to patients. As in the other industries that J.D. Power and Associates serves, our expertise and experience in measuring and tracking quality and satisfaction will ultimately help those who manage and monitor care improve patient satisfaction. We are very pleased to have been selected by DMAA to create a meaningful tool that will support the industry, patients, and providers." "The first two phases of our initiative highlighted the lack of standardized and validated tools and procedures for measuring patient satisfaction. The proposed development of a standardized and validated tool was unanimously embraced by accrediting organizations, AHRQ, and providers of DM programs," notes Graham Cherrington, Chair, DMAA Patient Satisfaction Workgroup and Vice President, Corporate Business Development, Matria Healthcare, Inc. Workgroup Co-chair Neal Friedman, MD, WellSpan Health, adds, "In addition, we aim to create a unique DM survey tool and consolidation system that will allow comparisons across different programs." DMAA is a nonprofit, voluntary membership organization which represents all stakeholders of the disease management community. # # # |
