With the clean and bloody bandages whipping in the wind, the passers-by recognized the establishment of the barber-surgeon, who could pull a tooth or leach blood from the patient, as well cut hair and a hangnail. The white and red rags gave way to the iconic barber pole still in use today. The barber-surgeons’ work […]
I am a practicing emergency physician and a managing partner with Emergency Physicians Medical Group (EPMG) and we provide emergency medical services to hospitals throughout the Midwest. I would like to share some of my own experiences when the tables turned and this doctor became the patient. What followed was an eye-opening sequence of events […]
Editor’s note: In the spirit of the holidays and promoting better health care, Michael cleverly penned these patient-centered carols. We offer our thanks and sing his praises for generously sharing these copyrighted ditties here. Copyright © 2015 by Michael L. Millenson. All rights reserved. A Shared Decision-Making Christmas We wish you a merry Christmas […]
Improving the patient-centeredness of healthcare is “the right thing to do.” That being said, it also happens to make great business sense. A spotlight has been placed on patient-centered care, patient experience, and patient engagement under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. The law sets forth financial incentives and penalties for providers and organizations […]
Imagine you have hypertension, an often-symptomless disease, and you’re receiving a daily text message reminding you to take your pills. How would you react? Now, imagine you’re getting the same kind of text message related to schizophrenia, a serious psychiatric disorder. Would your reaction be the same? When evaluating technologies for patient engagement, the “who” […]
In NICHQ’s work to transform practices into medical homes, family partners play a key role in providing guidance for how to make change. Ziva Mann is one of these family partners, working with a team from Cambridge Pediatrics in Massachusetts. An advocate and mother of a child with hemophilia, she shares her story on the […]
As healthcare providers recognize the essential need to engage patients and to understand what is important to them in their health and healthcare delivery, there is need for a paradigm shift in the focus of “what’s the matter?” to “what matters to you?,” a concept put forward by Maureen Bisognano, President of the Institute for […]
When you look at this piece of paper, what do you see? Most people would say a black dot. But as someone who has experienced a 14-year healthcare journey,I encourage you to take a closer look. Now what do you see? As healthcare transforms toward more patient-focused, it’s my hope that you will see the […]
The clock hands turn to 8 pm and an overhead announcement is heard throughout the hospital’s halls, “Visiting hours will be ending in 30 minutes.” At Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC) and at many other hospitals throughout the nation, this has been a heart-wrenching moment between patients and their loved ones. We at […]
Imagine patient-centered care explained as a kind of updated Norman Rockwell painting. What you’d get is a recent PBS documentary, “Rx: The Quiet Revolution,” which, yes, uses a famous Rockwell image of a kindly family physician (Doctor and Doll) to set the stage for what follows. Putting Patient-Centeredness into Practice The 90-minute film, available for […]