Communication is an essential aspect of health care that influences compliance and health outcome. Unfortunately, effective communication between patients and their healthcare providers is not easily obtained, especially for the older population.

This study is a secondary data analysis seeking to look at the communication between the healthcare provider and their elderly patients and determine what potential difficulties exist. It was predicted that older participants are more likely to have a hard time understanding their physician and are less likely to feel carefully listened to their health care provider than younger participants. The hypotheses were tested using data collected from the CHIS 2011-2012 Questionnaire.

The statistical tests did not find an association between old age and the patient's ability to understand their physician, as initially hypothesized. However, the analysis found a significant relationship between age and the participant's likeliness to feel carefully listened by their physician or medical provider.