Development and Validation of a Short‐Form Safety Net Medical Home Scale

Objective

To develop a short‐form Safety Net Medical Home Scale () for assessing patient‐centered medical home () capability in safety net clinics.

Data Sources/Study Setting

National surveys of federally qualified health centers (s). Interviews with directors.

Study Design

We constructed three short‐form versions and examined correlations with full and related primary care assessments. We tested usability with directors and reviewed scale development with an advisory group.

Data Collection

Federally qualified health center surveys were administered in 2009 and 2013, by mail and online. Usability testing was conducted through telephone interviews with directors in 2013.

Principal Findings

Six‐, 12‐, and 18‐question short‐form versions had Pearson correlations with full scale of 0.84, 0.92, and 0.96, respectively. All versions showed a level of convergent validity with other primary care assessment scales comparable to the full . User testers found short forms to be low‐burden, though missing some concepts. Advisory group members expressed caution over missing concepts and appropriate use of short‐form self‐assessments.

Conclusions

Short‐form versions of showed strong correlations with full scale and may be useful for brief assessment of safety net capability. Each short‐form version may be appropriate for different research, quality improvement, and assessment purposes.