Assessing Patient Education Materials: The Role of the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT)

Educating patients means more than just giving out brochures or posting videos online.
The materials must be easy to understand and clearly explain what patients need to do next.
Research shows that patients have many different backgrounds and various levels of health knowledge.
Some patients may find it hard to understand detailed medical information.
The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) says that communication must consider patient literacy to improve health results and avoid confusion.

Many healthcare providers find it hard to choose or make materials that people with different reading skills can understand.
Old tools usually focus only on grade level or font size.
But they do not check important things like how the information is organized, if there are helpful pictures, or if the material gives clear steps for patients.
Because of this, good assessment tools are very important.

What is the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT)?

PEMAT was made by experts like Sarah J. Shoemaker, Pharm.D., Ph.D., Michael S. Wolf, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Cindy Brach, M.P.P., for the AHRQ.
It looks at patient education materials in two main areas:

• Understandability: This checks how well patients from different backgrounds can understand and explain the key messages.
  It includes clear language, a logical order, and helpful images.
• Actionability: This checks if the material clearly shows what actions patients can take.
  It looks for clear, specific, and easy-to-follow instructions.

PEMAT has two versions:
– PEMAT-P for printed materials like brochures, pamphlets, or PDFs.
– PEMAT-A/V for audiovisual materials such as videos or online presentations.

These help healthcare providers check if their patient education materials are easy to understand and guide patients on what to do to manage their health.

How Does PEMAT Work?

Using PEMAT means rating up to 26 items.
For printed materials, 19 items focus on understandability and 7 on actionability.
For audiovisual materials, the number of items changes based on the format.

Each item is scored as “Agree,” “Disagree,” or “Not Applicable.”
Points are added up to give percentages for how understandable and actionable the materials are.
Higher scores mean the materials work better for many kinds of patients.

PEMAT was tested many times by raters from places like Massachusetts General Hospital, Northwestern University, and Abt Associates.
The tool showed:

• Good internal consistency: A Cronbach’s alpha of 0.71, which means items reliably measure their ideas.
• Moderate to strong agreement between raters: Average kappa scores of 0.57 and Gwet’s AC1 of 0.74, showing consistent scores among different users.
• Construct validity: Testing with patients found materials rated as more actionable had better understanding (76%) than less actionable materials (63%).
  Patients also rated the better materials higher in satisfaction.

The PEMAT user guide is free on the AHRQ site and has detailed instructions and examples.
It can be used by healthcare workers and others who choose patient materials, even without special training.

Benefits of Using PEMAT in U.S. Medical Practices

For healthcare managers and clinic owners in the U.S., PEMAT has several benefits:

• Better Patient Communication: Materials with high understandability scores help patients avoid confusion.
  Clear communication builds trust and helps patients follow their treatment plans.
• More Patient Engagement and Safety: Materials with good actionability scores encourage patients to take important steps like taking medicine, caring for wounds, or going to follow-up visits.
  This prevents problems and improves health.
• Support for Compliance and Quality: Hospitals and clinics must follow rules about patient education.
  Using PEMAT aligns with federal health literacy guidelines like the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy (2010) and AHRQ rules.
• Better Choice of Materials: PEMAT’s method helps providers avoid giving out materials that are too hard or not helpful,
  saving time and resources.
• Helps Use Different Types of Patient Education: Since PEMAT reviews both print and video materials, it aids in mixing different formats in healthcare settings that are using more digital tools.
• Supports Teamwork: Managers can use PEMAT results to help make new content, work with doctors and nurses, and get help from communication experts to improve patient information.

Challenges and Considerations in Using PEMAT

PEMAT is a useful tool, but healthcare managers should know its limits and think carefully when using it:

• PEMAT does not check if medical facts are correct or complete. Materials could be easy to understand but still have wrong or missing information.
  Experts must check accuracy.
• It works alongside readability tests but does not replace them. PEMAT looks at more than just reading level, including layout and use of pictures.
• It depends mainly on expert reviews, not direct patient opinions. It should be combined with patient surveys or focus groups to get a fuller view.
• Some PEMAT items have lower agreement among reviewers. This means those parts might need better training or clearer guidelines.

Because of these points, PEMAT works best as part of a bigger plan for patient education that includes checking content and getting patient feedback.

Integrating AI and Workflow Automation in Patient Education Material Assessment

Today, technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation is changing how patient education is managed and delivered.
For healthcare managers and IT staff, using these technologies can improve how PEMAT works and support patient care.

AI-Powered Evaluation and Content Optimization

AI tools can look at patient education materials and check readability, clarity, and structure, like PEMAT does, but faster and on a large scale.

• Natural language processing (NLP) programs can find complex medical words, long sentences, or tone that might be hard for patients to understand.
• Machine learning models can rate how clear and easy instructions are, similar to assessing actionability.
• AI content tools can suggest simpler words or make summaries and bullet points to help understanding.

These AI tools can help while staff still do manual PEMAT checks, speeding up early reviews and ongoing improvements.

Automation of Patient Communication Workflows

Companies like Simbo AI automate front-office phone calls and communication using AI.
This technology can support patient education by:

• Sending educational messages via phone, text, or email after patient visits.
• Answering patients’ questions about instructions from education materials quickly and clearly using verified information.
• Using chatbots to guide patients through tasks like taking medication or preparing for procedures, which supports the action steps encouraged by PEMAT materials.
• Scheduling follow-up contacts automatically if patients show confusion or ask for more help, lowering staff workload.

With AI automation, healthcare organizations can keep patients engaged and make sure they get the right information at the right time in an easy-to-use way.

Improving Workflow Efficiency and Data Management

IT managers can use AI to combine PEMAT results with electronic health records (EHR) for smarter distribution of materials:

• Data on material effectiveness can track which items work best for different groups of patients.
• Automated alerts can warn providers when materials score low, prompting updates.
• AI dashboards can show trends and patient feedback, helping leaders decide how to spend money on patient education.

Automation cuts down on manual work, lowers mistakes, and makes patient education more consistent across clinics.

Importance of Patient Education in U.S. Healthcare Settings

Patient education is an important part of care quality in the U.S.
AHRQ says that when patients are involved, they follow treatments better, go to the hospital less often, and feel more satisfied.
The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy explains that solving health literacy problems helps patients and lowers costs while improving health for many people.

For healthcare leaders, making health literacy better means giving patients clear materials and good communication.
Tools like PEMAT help reach this goal by offering a standard way to check and improve patient education.
Using new technology like AI-driven automation can make patient contact and operations better.

Final Thoughts on PEMAT’s Role in Healthcare Administration

As U.S. healthcare adopts new technology and focuses on patients, the need for clear and usable education materials grows.
PEMAT is a helpful tool that measures these qualities and helps managers pick good materials.

When PEMAT is used with AI and automation, it creates a full plan.
This plan helps make better educational materials and improves how they are given to patients, how they are discussed, and how patients act on them.
This ensures patients get the support they need to take care of their health.

Healthcare managers and IT staff who want to improve patient experience and safety should consider PEMAT in their patient education work.
Adding automation tools like Simbo AI can help with smoother communication.
Together, these efforts help bring good care and better health results to medical practices across the United States.