AAFP, Avatar International Launch Patient Satisfaction Survey Portal

Portal provides AAFP members with affordable online access to user-friendly surveys and reports to measure patient satisfaction with the overall care experience

ORLANDO, Fla. – (July 21, 2011) – The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and Avatar International, an industry leader in healthcare quality improvement services, together announce the launch of a jointly created online patient survey portal to help physicians gather the information they need to better serve their patients. Developed to support AAFP members’ participation in the Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG-CAHPS) program, the portal provides secure access to patient satisfaction survey tools and real-time results reporting.

CAHPS is a continuous initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) that supports the assessment of consumers’ experiences with healthcare. It develops and supports the use of a comprehensive and evolving family of standardized surveys covering topics that are important to consumers, such as the communication skills of providers and the accessibility of services.

Unlike traditional survey methods, which may be too costly and time consuming for small- to medium-sized medical practices to execute on their own, the user-friendly online tool developed by AAFP and Avatar provides an affordable means for gathering and analyzing patient feedback. It requires minimal staff time because patients are provided with cards containing a secure access code that allows them to link to and complete the survey at their convenience. Responses are anonymous and physicians or another designated staff member can access results in real-time via user-specific reporting tools.

The survey captures and aggregates the data necessary to assess patient satisfaction with every physician and healthcare professional in the practice on characteristics such as patient-centeredness, timeliness, accessibility and communication. In addition to comparing results against those of other practices nationwide, physicians can use the information to improve care, achieve accreditation, support research and provide consumers with information they can use to choose physicians or medical groups. The aggregated data is also shared with AAFP.

“Our members want a better way to solicit and use feedback in an effort to provide more patient-centered care,” said AAFP President Roland A. Goertz, M.D., MBA, “This new portal addresses those needs and arms family physicians with tools that enable them to act upon the results to deliver a quality patient experience at every encounter.”

A positive patient experience is one cornerstone of the patient-centered medical home model of care. This new portal will empower family physicians to better organize their practices around the patient and help maximize overall patient satisfaction.

“Soliciting input on the patient experience with multiple aspects of a visit helps physicians identify areas of their practice that can be enhanced to ensure their patients enjoy a positive overall experience,” said Avatar CEO David Medvedeff, PharmD, MBA. “This portal provides AAFP members with a convenient and cost-effective way to secure patient feedback using proven analytics tools and survey methodologies that allow them to measure performance internally and against their peers nationwide.”

Available exclusively to the AAFP’s 100,300 members, portal access is available for purchase through the AAFP website.

About the American Academy of Family Physicians

Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents 100,300 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Approximately one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 228 million office visits each year — nearly 84 million more than the next largest medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide more care for America’s underserved and rural populations than any other medical specialty. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the specialty of family medicine, the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care, and for downloadable multi-media highlighting family medicine, visit www.aafp.org/media. For information about health care, health conditions and wellness, please visit the AAFP’s award-winning consumer website, www.FamilyDoctor.org.

About Avatar

Avatar (www.avatar-intl.com), a research and consulting company based in Orlando, FL, specializes in Evidence Based Intelligent Surveys™ and Innovative Strategies™ to transform information into significant quality and efficiency of care improvement for the healthcare industry. In addition to conducting surveys, Avatar also actively engages healthcare providers in process improvements, including training in service quality.  Avatar serves healthcare organizations nationally, including small community hospitals, academic medical centers, large regional medical centers, integrated healthcare systems, long-term care and behavioral health organizations. Avatar International can be reached at 1-800-282-8274.