More hospitals, health plans and employers are scoring patients on how engaged they will be in their care using an assessment called the Patient Activation Measure, or PAM. Scores make it easier to customize information, coaching and other interventions.

The aim is for patients, rather than feel overwhelmed by instructions, to become confident that they can change their own behavior.

Another aim: To reduce costs incurred through additional patient visits. Hospitals are using PAM to tailor support they give patients at discharge to avoid readmissions. Patients with low activation scores have nearly twice the risk of 30-day post-discharge hospital admission as patients with higher activation, according to a study last fall in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

PeaceHealth, of Vancouver, Wash., used PAM at a primary-care practice in Eugene, Ore., and found over 18 months a 42% decline in average quarterly emergency and urgent-care visits. Read more…