Patient-Provider Communication with Teach-Back, Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, and Diabetes Care Education

Abstract Objective To examine how the teach-back, interactive communication loop between patient and provider, is utilized and its role in diabetes care delivery. Methods This was a cross-sectional analysis of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 2011-2016. The study sample included US adults aged 18 or older with diabetes. Survey-design adjusted analyses were used to examine patterns of teach-back utilization across patient socioeconomic/clinical characteristics, patient-provider interactions, and diabetes care education. Results Analysis of 2,901 US adults with diabetes showed that 25.0% reported patient teach-back experience during their visit to care. Compared with patients without teach-back, those with teach-back experience had higher scores on interaction quality with their providers (composite score: 90.8 vs. 55.8, P  Conclusion Teach-back communication appears to be effective in patient-provider interaction and diabetes care education, leading to higher confidence in self-care management. Practice Implications Despite its potential, the utilization of teach-back communication is suboptimal. More effort is needed to promote effective use of teach-back communication in routine diabetes care.