National Survey of Patients' Bill of Rights Statutes
Date
2009-2-3
Authors
Paasche-Orlow, Michael K.
Jacob, Dan M.
Hochhauser, Mark
Parker, Ruth M.
Version
OA Version
Citation
>Paasche-Orlow, Michael K., Dan M. Jacob, Mark Hochhauser, Ruth M. Parker. "National Survey of Patients' Bill of Rights Statutes" Journal of General Internal Medicine 24(4): 489-494. (2009)
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Despite vigorous national debate between 1999–2001 the federal patients' bill of rights (PBOR) was not enacted. However, states have enacted legislation and the Joint Commission defined an accreditation standard to present patients with their rights. Because such initiatives can be undermined by overly complex language, we surveyed the readability of hospital PBOR documents as well as texts mandated by state law.
METHODS
State Web sites and codes were searched to identify PBOR statutes for general patient populations. The rights addressed were compared with the 12 themes presented in the American Hospital Association's (AHA) PBOR text of 2002. In addition, we obtained PBOR texts from a sample of hospitals in each state. Readability was evaluated using Prose, a software program which reports an average of eight readability formulas
RESULTS
Of 23 states with a PBOR statute for the general public, all establish a grievance policy, four protect a private right of action, and one stipulates fines for violations. These laws address an average of 7.4 of the 12 AHA themes. Nine states' statutes specify PBOR text for distribution to patients. These documents have an average readability of 15th grade (range, 11.6, New York, to 17.0, Minnesota). PBOR documents from 240 US hospitals have an average readability of 14th grade (range, 8.2 to 17.0)
CONCLUSIONS
While the average U.S. adult reads at an 8th grade reading level, an advanced college reading level is routinely required to read PBOR documents. Patients are not likely to learn about their rights from documents they cannot read.
Description
License
Copyright Society of General Internal Medicine 2009