Volume 5, Number 1: Spring 2022
Measurement Spotlight /Original Article
Developing and Integrating Patient-Centered Measurement Principles into Assessment During Rehabilitation
Jennifer Weaver, PhD
This year has brought forth many exciting moments for measurement. The Rasch Reporting Task Force was successful in developing and publishing Reporting Guidelines. Right on the heels of these publications, the M-ISIG initiated a Stakeholder Engagement Task Force. Engaging clients, families, practitioners, and researchers will be important to promote the creation and use of better measurement.
In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) developed a strategic plan to meaningfully and intentionally engage persons and families.1 Around the same time in 2017, the American Institute for Research Foundation developed five principles for “making health care measurement patient-centered.”2 The principles of patient-centered measurement (PCM) promote assessments that are: 1) comprehensible and timely, 2) transparent, 3) patient-driven, 4) co-created, and 5) holistic.2 Assessments are comprehensible and timely when practitioners, clients, and families can obtain assessment result information that is easy to understand in a timely manner. It is critical for this information to be accessible so that it results in transparency. Assessments that are patient-driven promote the inclusion of the client’s and family’s preferences, values, and priorities. The assessment also needs to be of value to the practitioner to be adopted into clinical practice. Thus, there is a need to co-create assessments and the way in which results are presented. A holistic assessment recognizes that the person lives life outside of the healthcare system and that measurement needs to be sensitive to many facets of life and provide a more complete picture of health. 2
It is my hope that we start to unpack these patient-centered measurement concepts and integrate them into our rehabilitation measures so that rehabilitation intentionally and meaningfully engages clients and families throughout the assessment process.
- https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/QualityInitiativesGenInfo/Downloads/Person-and-Family-Engagement-Strategic-Plan-12-12-16.pdf 2
- https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/Patient-Centered-Measurement-Principles-April-2017.pdf
