With patient engagement becoming a central theme in the shifting consumer-driven world of healthcare delivery, providers, payers and patients alike are still in the midst of figuring what, exactly, that means.
How much engagement is enough from the provider? What sort of technological tools can assist in the process? How might it curb healthcare costs and might it assist with vexing issues like medication adherence and wellness?
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, in conjunction with the American Institute for Research, is looking to answer these and more questions, providing what it describes as the first actual Patient Engagement Road Map, a lengthy guide for the consumer on what to know. From patient and family preparation, clinician involvement, measurement and research, transparency and accountability, public policy and more. It’s a veritable playbook for engagement, arguabley among the most comprehensive to date.
Despite the shift in healthcare to include the patient far more so than in the past, the Road Mad, a more than $500,00 effort, maintains that a critical void still persists when it comes to engagement.
“Meaningfully engaging patients and families as true partners in their care remains the exception, not the rule,” according to the foundation and the nonprofit Research Institute. “The Affordable Care Act has increased the incentive for healthcare organizations to engage patients and families, but health professionals and organizations need practical, concrete ways to partner with patients and families. And, the lack of a unified vision within the diverse field of patient and family engagement has hindered the translation of effective engagement strategies from innovation to widespread routine practice.”
Kristin Carman, vice president of health policy research for the Institute’s Health and Social Development Program, helped develop the road map, which she spoke about at MedCity’s ENGAGE conference in Bethesda last week.
