How Engaged Are American Consumers in Their Health and Health Care?
Source: Center for Studying Health System Change
The level of patient activation—a person’s ability to manage their health and health care—varies considerably in the U.S. population, with less than half of adults (41.4%) at the highest level, according to a national study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).
The Patient Activation Measure (PAM) was designed to assess an individual’s knowledge, skill and confidence in managing their health and consists of a 13-item scale that asks people about their beliefs, knowledge and confidence for taking an active role in their health and health care. Based on responses to the 13-item scale, each person is assigned an activation score.
Prior research using the PAM has relied on relatively small samples or groups, such as health plan enrollees, Medicaid enrollees in several local areas, and older adults with chronic conditions. HSC’s 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey is the first large nationally representative survey—information on 13,500 adults—to include the PAM to assess the level of activation in the U.S. population. HSC is a nonpartisan health policy research organization funded in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the survey and the study.
Activation levels are especially low for people with low incomes, less education, Medicaid enrollees, and people with poor self-reported health. Higher activation levels are associated with much lower levels of unmet need for medical care and greater support from health care providers for self-management of chronic conditions, according to the study.
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