A New Era of Patient Engagement

The February 2013 issue of Health Affairs focused on patient engagement. The includes some great data, research findings and ideas about patient engagement in the future. A couple of highlights include:

One study found that patients with the lowest activation levels had predicted average costs that were 8% higher in the base year and 21% higher in the first half of the next year than the costs of patients with the highest activation levels. Also, patient activation was a significant predictor of cost even after adjustments for commonly used “risk score” specifically designed to predict future costs.
One quote about tools to support shared decision making came pretty close to describing our work here at TOWER:

“EHRs could be designed to automatically suggest particular decision aids based on a patient’s clinical characteristics. They could also be used to provide patients with access to care provider’s notes …”

The concepts of shared decision making and patient decision aids were recurring themes in several of the articles.
Patient decision aids was defined as, “interventions such as books, videos, leaflets, DVDs, websites and other interactive media that are designed to provide the best evidence available about the risks and benefits of different medical treatment options.”
One study identified limitations about the patient decision aids used, including low rates of distribution and no lasting increases in distribution rates (by clinic staff). The aids used were a booklet alone and a booklet and DVD combo.

“…the aids were primarily distributed at the point and time of care. They might have had a greater impact on discussions with providers if patients had been able to view them prior to a consultation.”

There was also an Interesting article by several major health system CEOs that included checklist (page 6) similar to the process we use here at TOWER Note: This link is not to the article, just another version of the checklist.

image: Patient/shutterstock