DMAA Produces New Participant Satisfaction Survey Tool

WASHINGTON, DC—Responding to the need for a statistically validated, industry-accepted approach to measuring participant satisfaction in disease management, the Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) this week released a new assessment tool.

The DMAA Participant Satisfaction Survey, developed with support from J.D. Power and Associates, comprises four modules that evaluate various aspects of disease management programs. DMAA also said it would create a de-identified database built from survey results that would allow analysis of aggregate data for quality improvement efforts.

Graham Cherrington, co-chair of the DMAA Patient Satisfaction Subcommittee, said the survey provides a practical, easy-to-use tool for gathering data in an area that, along with clinical and financial outcomes, defines a disease management program’s success.

"Participant satisfaction with a disease management program is so important, because satisfied participants are more likely to adhere to the management regimen," he said. "To the extent that we can measure success achieving satisfaction, we can build stronger, more effective programs."

In addition to J.D. Power and Associations, DMAA received support from corporate members Alere Medical Inc. and Healthways Inc., which helped the association earlier this year identify participants for an essential validation phase of the survey’s development. "Those collaborations proved invaluable to moving this project forward, and we're grateful for all the support we received," said Subcommittee Co-Chair Neal Friedman, MD.

The survey asks participants to rate access to care, coordination of care, improvements to quality of life and ability to self-manage chronic conditions. The survey gathers other basic data, such as type of program, nature of the disease and respondent demographics.

DMAA will ask organizations that use the survey to voluntarily submit de-identified results to a new database DMAA will build for use in quality improvement and program refinement efforts. Organizations that contribute to the database will have access to it for benchmarking or process improvement efforts.

Last year, DMAA announced it would collaborate with J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information firm, to create a standardized and validated survey instrument. A 2004 literature review and survey by the DMAA and J.D. Power and Associates found that, except for diabetes management programs, no prevalent and systematic approach for measuring participant satisfaction exists within the disease management community.

DMAA identified the satisfaction survey tool as a key organizational goal to promote high quality standards for disease management and care coordination programs. Further underscoring the importance of this project is the Medicare Health Support pilot program’s requirement to measure and improve beneficiary satisfaction. DMAA released the survey and accompanying instructions at its annual Disease Management Leadership Forum, in Denver.

Information on pricing and availability of the survey document >>

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About DMAA
The Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) a non-profit membership association, represents all stakeholders in disease management and care coordination. DMAA promotes the role of disease management in raising the quality of care, improving health outcomes and reducing health care costs for individuals with chronic conditions. DMAA has more than 200 corporate and individual members representing all aspects of disease management and care coordination—from large health plans, disease management organizations and employers, to individual physicians, researchers and nurses. Learn more by visiting DMAA online at www.dmaa.org.