Can additional patient experience items improve the reliability of and add new domains to the CAHPS hospital survey?

Context: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will introduce the reporting of patient surveys in 2008. The Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Hospital Survey contains 18 questions about hospital care. Internal consistency reliability of the discharge information scale is relatively low and some important domains of care are not represented.

Primary care: the next renaissance.

Three decades ago, a renaissance helped create the foundations of primary care as we know it today. In recent years, however, new challenges have confronted primary care. We believe that the current challenges can be overcome and may, in fact, present an opportunity for a new renaissance of primary care to address the needs of our population.

Chronic illness management: what is the role of primary care?

An estimated 99 million Americans live with a chronic illness. Meeting the needs of this population is one of the major challenges facing the U.S.

Primary care at a crossroads.

In response to concerns about the future of primary care, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation sponsored a meeting in October 2001 in Glen Cove, New York, of 45 leaders in primary care and other health sectors. The purpose was to discuss the current and future challenges to primary care and to develop new and innovative ideas about how primary care might meet the needs of our current and future population. The premise of the meeting was that primary care is at a crossroads, which could lead to a new renaissance or a continued decline.