Communication Climate Assessment Toolkit (C-CAT)

Dr. Tameka Taylor, president of Compass Consulting Services, LLC, has been licensed by the American Medical Association (AMA) as a Communication Climate Assessment Toolkit (C-CAT) vendor-consultant.  She is one of a select cohort picked and trained by the AMA to both administer the C-CAT assessment and follow up with recommendations and training to help the organization improve.  

"Effective, patient-centered communication is critical in delivering quality health care, but illness, fear, low literacy and diverse languages and cultures can make it difficult for health care professionals to communicate successfully with patients," said AMA President Jeremy A. Lazarus, M.D. "We created this tool to help organizations evaluate and improve their communication with a diverse patient population, and we are proud that measures included in this toolkit have received National Quality Forum endorsement."

Tameka has been trained by the AMA to administer the 360-degree C-CAT to hospitals and large group practices to evaluate organizational performance in communication.  Using the C-CAT results, she will be able to:

• Evaluate and improve patient-centered communication

• Identify specific communication gaps and disconnects to target QI resources

• Assess and ensure compliance with accreditation and regulatory requirements

The assessment process will take approximately two to four months, during which Tameka will collect data, provide statistically validated scores for each of the nine areas of assessment, and compare these scores to national benchmarks.  At the conclusion of the process, Tameka will present a final report with recommendations for improvement.  She can then work with your organization to improve communication in any desired areas.

The C-CAT provides an organizational assessment that is fully aligned with Joint Commission requirements and CLAS National Standards, and it is a way to document performance on CLAS and Joint Commission requirements.

"Good communication is both an ethical imperative, necessary for informed consent and effective patient engagement, and a means to avoid errors, improve quality, lower costs and achieve better health outcomes," said Dr. Lazarus.

Compass is excited to be able to administer the C-CAT.  For further details about the C-CAT, please visit the AMA website, or contact Tameka L. Taylor, Ph.D. at  216-912-1173 or contactus@compassconsultingservices.com.