Decision aids — such as videos, online tools, and other resources — are evidence-based tools designed to inform and guide patients in making specific choices about their care. For example, the tools can help patients and families understand the trade-offs related to options available for their care, taking into consideration an individual’s goals and tolerances for risks and burdens of care.
In the past decade, use of decisions aids has increased and will continue to grow in importance as health care shifts to be more patient centric, focusing on the value of services provided. Yet as important and useful as decision aids can be, there is currently no national standard to validate the quality of these tools — from their value to their scientific accuracy.
With funding from the foundation, the National Quality Forum focused on this issue and recently released a set of national standards for certification of decision aids.
“Both consumers and physicians urgently need health care resources they can trust that meet a reasonable threshold for quality,” said Helen Burstin, MD, MPH, NQF’s chief scientific officer. “National standards to evaluate decision aids are critical to ensuring that these resources offer accurate information to patients so they can evaluate health care choices that reflect their goals, values, and preferences.”
Read more from NQF here.
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