title: Examination of office visit patient preferences for the after-visit summary (AVS).
abstract: The federal government advocates the practice of routinely providing an after-visit summary (AVS) to patients after each office-based visit as an element of stage 1 meaningful use. A significant potential benefit of the AVS is improved patient engagement achieved by enabling patients and family members to better understand and retain key health information. The methodology for this study was a mixed-methods pilot study to examine, through the perspectives of adult primary care patients, how relevant and actionable data can be better formatted in the AVS. Results of this study suggest that the goal of the AVS to serve as a communication tool to engage and support patients is frequently not being met. Further study is needed to understand, from the viewpoints of patients and providers, what barriers are keeping them from optimally providing and using the information on the AVS.
authors.affiliation: Marolee Neuberger, MS, is an academic specialist in the Department of Family Medicine at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI.
authors.forename: Marolee
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neuberger
authors.affiliation: Katherine Dontje, PhD, FNP-BC, is an assistant professor in the College of Nursing at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dontje
authors.affiliation: Greg Holzman, MD, MPH, is an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI.
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Holzman
authors.affiliation: Bill Corser, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, is an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI.
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Corser
authors.affiliation: Abigail Keskimaki is a research assistant at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI.
authors.forename: Abigail
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keskimaki
authors.affiliation: Ericka Chant is a research assistant at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI.
authors.forename: Ericka
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chant
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits; D057240:Patient Preference; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010865:Pilot Projects; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*
keywords: after-visit summary; meaningful use; patient-provider communication; primary care