by Burgess Harrison

The Patient Activation Measure discovers a person's relationship with and attitude toward the healthcare system. It is a well proven process, backed up by more then 600 peer-reviewed case studies. In this context, "activation" describes a person's capability and willingness to take charge of their own health care. Activation is broken down into four identifiable levels:

• Level 1 (Parsley): Disengaged and Overwhelmed. "My doctor is in charge of my health."
  
• Level 2 (Sage): Becoming Aware but Still Struggling. "I could be doing more for my health."
  
• Level 3 (Rosemary): Taking Action and Gaining Control. "I am part of my healthcare team."
  
• Level 4 (Thyme): Maintaining Behaviors and Pushing Further. "I am my own health advocate."
  

The important differences between each level of activation relate to outcomes and cost. As a person's activation level rises, outcomes improve, and costs are reduced. In fact, each level of improvement (e.g., from Level 1 to Level 2) can represent a 50% decrease in the total lifetime costs of care for a participant.

This is critical because, roughly, the most frail 5 percent of healthcare patients represent over 30 percent of total healthcare costs! Therefore, improving activation levels will cause a dramatic overall cost reduction for the entire U.S. healthcare system. Because minorities and under-served populations are impacted to a greater extent than the overall population, working with these "ends of the bell curve" will produce a much greater impact overall.

Every software company should participate in our effort to gather and analyze de-identified data. They can help support the collection of PAM scores by building its 10-question survey into their systems, thus supporting the secure and anonymous transfer of data to a new research repository currently being developed. Our industry can be a leader...and should be.

Read a complete description of PAM in our Whitepaper that describes our entire "Operation Healthy You™" program. The PAM survey is a product of Insignia Health. insigniahealth.com/products/pam-survey

Burgess Harrison is the Executive Director of the National Minority Health Association. He can be reached at thenmha.org/ or 833-367-6642.

©2021 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. This article originally appeared in Home Care Technology: The Rowan Report. Click here to subscribe. It may be freely reproduced provided this copyright statement remains intact. editor@homecaretechreport.com