The IOM (Institute of Medicine) defines patient centered care as: "Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions."
As health care costs continue to rise, it is becoming increasingly important for patients to be active participants in the management of their health care.
Patient Centered Care means working with your physicians in the decision-making process about your treatment options – it’s YOUR health and financial well-being at stake!
Ask questions: When seeking medical care, patients should not hesitate to question their doctor’s recommended treatment options or even seek a second opinion in some cases.
Patient Centered Care goes past solely keeping medical care appropriate and cost-effective to making sure the benefits of the health care remain on a high level. Medical providers should also be cognisant of a patient’s preferences, family situations, and even social and cultural background.
How Can Patient Centered Care Be Optimized?
The patient should always come first!
Health care is designed to help individuals stay healthy or address any medical issues that may arise. The health of the patient should never be compromised. Medical treatment plans should be based on what is in the best interest of the patient. But the best outcome cannot be achieved without full engagement between the patient and the medical provider!
To ensure more efficient outcomes, Patients should:
- try to understand their health insurance benefits to the best of their ability
- be able to effectively communicate with a doctor about benefits to streamline the process of treatment options
- never be afraid to ask for explanations in situations where diagnoses or treatment options may be unclear.
Being an informed consumer is important at all times, especially when it comes to your own health care!
Speak Up! It Helps!!
Most doctors are willing to take the patient’s preference into account when managing their health care. However, these doctors only know as much as the patient tells them.
Don’t be afraid to open a dialogue with your physician. You have the power to question the doctor’s analysis and treatment options to make sure that they are appropriate, efficient, and cost-effective. Be very clear to discuss the treatment options so your doctor can address them with you.
Most patients are looking for more than a prescription to take to their local pharmacy when they go to see the doctor. Whether they are aware of it or not, they are truly searching for guidance and support and a sense of trust in their doctors.
Find the Right Physician
If you do not feel comfortable with the responses and treatment prescribed by your physician, perhaps it’s time to shop for another doctor. If you find yourself saying “I’m just not getting better” or “what the doctor said just didn’t make sense” or “is that test/procedure/prescription really the right thing”, then you should seek a second opinion. Second opinions are a good thing to make sure you find a good physician who will engage WITH you on your course of treatment.
A physician who creates a mutual exchange of information to make sure that the most effective health outcomes are reached will show their patients that the doctor truly cares about their well-being!
As Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.” Patient Centered Care is just one of the ways that different, more effective results can be achieved in the health care industry. Rising health care costs are a concern for everyone nationwide, and they will continue to be a concern until steps are taken to calm this alarming trend.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was designed in 2010 to address these health care cost issues, but the engagement of people in their own health care will be an integral part of managing these trends.
Ultimately, with collaboration and cooperation between doctors and their patients, patients will have more effective health outcomes, doctors can become more efficient, and health care costs will be more controlled than in recent years.
Sounds like a winning situation for everyone!
