Shadow Coaching Improves Patient Experience With Care, But Gains Erode Later.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Experience Improvement
• Provider Performance Evaluation

Background:

• Healthcare organizations aim to enhance patient care experiences.
• One-on-one provider counseling, known as shadow coaching, is utilized to modify provider behaviors.
• This study focuses on improving patient experience through targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of shadow coaching on patient experience in primary care settings.
• To determine if shadow coaching leads to measurable improvements in provider communication and overall ratings.
• To assess the sustainability of improvements gained from shadow coaching.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study involving 74 coached providers and 246 uncoached providers across 44 primary care practices.
• Mixed-effects regression models were used to analyze data from 46,452 patients.
• Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG-CAHPS) Visit Survey 2.0 data were collected to measure outcomes.

Main Results:

• Coached providers showed a statistically significant 2-point improvement in overall provider rating and communication scores immediately post-coaching.
• No significant performance changes were observed in uncoached providers during the study period.
• The observed improvements in patient experience scores diminished after 2.5 years, with variations noted based on the coach.

Conclusions:

• Shadow coaching offers an immediate benefit to provider performance and patient communication.
• Sustained improvement in patient experience may require regular "booster" coaching sessions.
• Further research is needed to optimize shadow coaching implementation and long-term effectiveness.