{"id":19604,"date":"2017-08-31T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T12:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carecloud.com\/continuum\/?p=19604"},"modified":"2025-10-27T13:42:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T13:42:51","slug":"being-patient-centric-defining-measuring-and-living-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/being-patient-centric-defining-measuring-and-living-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Being Patient-Centric: Defining, Measuring, and Living It"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mandi Bishop<\/i><\/p>\n

The new medical economy is being driven by patients as consumers and the demands of value-based care to demonstrate and measure the patient experience. An understanding of how to practice patient-centered medicine is going to be integral to success.<\/p>\n

At the start, we first must define patient-centricity. Most healthcare stakeholders tend to think about it in terms of care coordination, contact terms, and how they\u2019re going to serve the patients in ways that align to the appropriate contract arrangement.<\/p>\n

Defining patient-centricity it is one thing; measuring it is another. I have observed that how a practice defines and measures patient-centricity varies depending on how it is reimbursed: if it is part of an ACO, its tier within a patient-centered medical home model, or if it is working under a more traditional pay-for-performance program. For example, practices using a P4P model might focus on hospital admittance data, provider use of technology, and completion of medical record-sharing. While patient portals and meaningful use Stage 2 measures are common tools to monitor patient-centricity metrics across the board, there are limits to each of these systems.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the problem with all these measures and tools? They are inherently provider- and payer-centric, not patient-centric.<\/p>\n

This is a big concept. Let\u2019s unpack it.<\/p>\n

We know that 95% of what influences health is what happens outside of the healthcare setting. Being able to address needs at the patient-as-a-person level and recognizing these outside influences is what Harvard defines as \u201cpatient-centric medicine.\u201d But how is a physician to address value systems, support systems, and physical comfort within the span of a seven-minute average office visit? How and where do you capture these data points in a way that is actionable?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The information and technology built for a provider-centric system are getting in the way of well-intentioned patient-centric initiatives. Consider:<\/p>\n