Shadow coaching improves clinician performance

To improve the performance of health care providers with slightly below average Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems (CAHPS) scores, researchers studied the use of shadow coaching, a form of one-on-one counseling aimed at identifying and modifying provider behaviors. The practice improved provider performance on overall and communication CAHPS scores, but the gains disappeared after two and a half years, and the effects differed by coach. The study took place in 44 primary care practices in a large urban federally qualified health center. “Regularly planned shadow coaching ‘booster’ sessions might maintain or even increase the improvement,” the researchers concluded. (Medical Care article, 8/12/21)