New Guiding Principles for Patient-Centered Care

Patient-centered care has been getting a lot of attention as the healthcare industry focuses on the Triple Aim of delivering better health outcomes, improving patient experience, and reducing the cost of care. In that vein, the Louis W. Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation recently released 6 guiding principles of patient-centered care.

The principles were created by the Sullivan Institute’s Patient Experience Council, a collective body of ePatients and eAdvocates, and presented at WEDI-Con 2014 in Reston, VA.

“As healthcare stakeholders explore strategies to deliver more patient-centric care, products and services, we see these Guiding Principles serving as the next step to ensuring that the patient engagement strategies being considered result in patient-experience centered outcomes,” Kym Martin, MBA, CNC, CFT, co-chair of The Sullivan Institute’s Patient Experience Council, said in a statement.

The principles expand upon the Institute of Medicine’s definition of patient-centered care in an attempt to aid stakeholders to strengthen patient-centered efforts and include:

1. Clearly Defined Roles Roles of the entire care team should be communicated to the patient, family, caregivers, or power of attorney.

1. Assessment of Patient and Clinical Care Team Competencies Care is delivered by professionals with the appropriate skillsets, expertise, and temperament, and the patient’s ability to participate in his or her care and decision-making should be assessed.

1. Patient-Centered Decision-Making Care options should be framed by the clinician, keeping the patient’s goals, preferences, values, and circumstances in mind, and implemented upon informed patient consent.

1. Information Access and Exchange Patients should be able to access and comprehend the information generated by their care in as close to real time as practical.

1. Information Accuracy Patients should be able to clarify clinical information and input patient-generated data, and clinicians and healthcare systems should ensure accuracy, veracity, and comprehensiveness of the information they document.

1. Privacy and Security Only authenticated personnel with approved purpose should have access to patient information, which should be stored and managed securely.

According to the Patient Experience Council, patient-centered care and these 6 guiding principles can not only improve quality, safety, and patient satisfaction, but also healthcare professional satisfaction, which reduces turnover and burnout.

“I believe that the principles being released today by our Patient Experience Council will help provide a framework for how organizations should orient their efforts in order to prepare for the future landscape of healthcare,” WEDI President and Chief Executive Officer Devin Jopp, EdD, said.

See full explanations for the guiding principles here: http://bit.ly/1rrCCpl