Patient Activation Measure

About the project

This pilot is testing the acceptability and feasibility of the Patient Activation Measure (PAM®) in Victoria.

PAM® is a validated patient reported outcome measure that health services and clinicians can use: 

• as a tailoring tool to deliver person-centred care
• for population segmentation and risk stratification
• as a measurement tool.

Objective

To understand the acceptability and feasibility of the PAM tool in the Victorian context.

Background

Chronic conditions are a leading cause of potentially preventable hospitalisations, with congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and type 2 diabetes accounting for half of the potentially preventable hospitalisations for chronic conditions (AIHW, 2019). 

The PAM® supports increasing patient activation – a person’s ability to understand their health condition and self-manage their health – which has been demonstrated to align with better health outcomes, better care experiences and reduced unwarranted healthcare service utilisation, including a reduction in potentially preventable hospitalisations, in people with chronic disease (Janamian et al. 2022).

What is the PAM®?

The PAM® uses 13 questions to assess a patient’s knowledge, skills, and confidence in self-managing their own health. It places patients into one of four increasing levels of activation along a 100-point scale. An increase in a patient’s PAM® score within and between levels demonstrates an increase in patient self-management.

Solution design

We are working with participating health services to implement the PAM® as part of their existing chronic disease management programs. 

In conjunction with CFEP and Insignia, we are providing participating health services with support and training to implement the PAM® via:

• online webinars
• self-paced eLearning modules
• support calls 
• quarterly communities of practice. 

We also provide health services with a toolkit that includes guidance and best practice examples for implementing the PAM®.

Pilot milestones

Participating services

• Access Health and Community
• Barwon Health 
• cohealth 
• EACH
• Echuca Regional Health 
• Grampians Community Health
• healthAbility
• IPC Health*
• Latrobe Community Health
• Northeast Health Wangaratta 
• Your Community Health