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Published on: February 19, 2021
Impact of a Physician Communication Development Program on Patient Experience Scores
Cheryl D Stults1, Su-Ying Liang1, Yian Guo1
1Sutter Health Research Institute, Sutter Health, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Journal of Patient Experience
|July 12, 2026
Summary
A mandatory continuing professional development (CPD) program improved patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) related to communication in a large healthcare system. This quality improvement initiative demonstrated sustained positive effects on patient satisfaction across multiple domains.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Quality Improvement
- Medical Education
- Patient Experience Research
Background:
- Patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) are crucial for healthcare quality assessment but interventions to improve them are understudied.
- Enhancing patient-clinician communication is a key target for quality improvement initiatives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of an annual, mandatory, peer-led continuing professional development (CPD) program on PREMs.
- To assess the association between the CPD program and patient ratings of provider communication.
Main Methods:
- A quality improvement study analyzed over 1 million ambulatory pre-post patient experience surveys annually from January 2018 to October 2022.
- Generalized estimating equations were used to model top-box ratings for communication-related PREMs, adjusting for patient and provider factors.
Main Results:
- Following the CPD program implementation in 2019, top-box ratings significantly increased across all four communication domains ('explains', 'listens', 'overall provider rating', 'recommend') compared to 2018.
- Adjusted odds ratios were consistently greater than 1.0 (p ≤ 0.001) for all domains, indicating improved patient-reported experiences.
Conclusions:
- Peer-led CPD programs focused on communication skills can effectively enhance PREMs within a large healthcare system.
- While CPD interventions show promise, potential plateaus in improvement should be considered for long-term quality enhancement strategies.
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