By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    learn to recognize and treat yeast infections
    Most Commonly Asked Questions About Yeast Infections
    November 17, 2021
    Advanced lung cancer diagnosis systems used by doctors
    Advanced Lung Cancer Diagnosis Systems Used by Doctors
    March 6, 2022
    The Top Benefits of a Wearable Blood Pressure Monitor Watch
    The Top Benefits of a Wearable Blood Pressure Monitor Watch
    June 13, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Life Expectancies and Lethal Injections
    May 6, 2015
    The Future of Healthcare and Big Pharma is in Big Data Analytics
    February 5, 2021
    Financial Assistance for Clinical Trials
    September 16, 2015
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: The Push for Patient Engagement: Who Benefits the Most?
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Hospital Administration > The Push for Patient Engagement: Who Benefits the Most?
Hospital Administration

The Push for Patient Engagement: Who Benefits the Most?

Steve Wilkins
Steve Wilkins
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

It goes without saying that people – you and I – need to be actively involved (ok…I’ll say it…engaged) in our own health.  After all, it is our health we are talking about.

It goes without saying that people – you and I – need to be actively involved (ok…I’ll say it…engaged) in our own health.  After all, it is our health we are talking about.  But I have long suspected that there may be motives behind all this talk about patient engagement that go beyond the simple argument that it’s “the right thing for patients to do.”  Motives which I believe constitute a fundamental “unspoken truth” about why policy makers, payers, vendors and at least a few providers are so passionate about patient engagement.

Truths that have remained unspoken until now, that is.

patient engagementSam VanNorman, director of business intelligence, from Park Nicollet, shared this unspoken truth about patient engagement at a recent panel discussion on Pioneer ACOs.  In an online Forbes article, Dave Chase quotes VanNorman as saying:

More Read

The Typical Physician Misses Hundreds of Opportunities to Engage, Empower and Excite Patients Every Day
Reducing Medical Errors with Engaged Patients and Culture Change
Was Granny Sent Home from the Hospital Too Soon?
How to Improve Your Practice’s Patient Experience
To Increase Physician Productivity, Focus on Tools for Support Staff First

“We have to incorporate the most important member of the care team — the patient. With our finite resources, we must figure out ways to offload what we have thought as tasks that needed to be done by our staff.  In most cases, it’s the patient who can do it more effectively. In the process, the patient is more engaged and it’s more efficient for everyone.”

The heretofore unspoken truth to which I refer is that for some, patient engagement is not about getting patients to do what in their own best interest, but rather doing what’s in the interests of policy makers, payers and perhaps providers.

I am not convinced, however, that most clinicians think this way.

Call me naïve, but I thought patients were the most important member of the care team because of what they can do for themselves, e.g., share information with the clinician to improve diagnosis and treatment, self-care management and so on.  Patient engagement to those thinking this way is about inviting the patient into their care and the care process to advance their activation, quality of care, clinical outcomes and the patient experience.  This approach begins with the patient.  As such, this approach is patient-centered in that the care delivery process begins by the clinician eliciting the patient’s knowledge and perspectives of their health.

VanNorman seems to believe that patients are the most important member of the care team because of what they can do for the provider and payer,  e.g., provide a more efficient, cheaper (free is pretty cheap) labor pool to which clinicians can outsource work they don’t want to do, don’t have time to do or don’t get paid to do.  Patient engagement for those that think this way begins with policy makers, payers and administrators looking for ways of offloading tasks (of their choosing) to the patient (e.g., lowest pay grade), irrespective of the patient’s willingness, knowledge or ability to comply. This approach could rightly be called bureaucrat-directed care which is antithetical to patient-centered care and the principle of PCMH and ACO models as well as the Triple Aims.

Don’t Conflate Outsourcing With Patient Engagement – They Are Not The Same

I complete understand VanNorman’s logic and agree with the notion of putting patients to work – they are a vastly underutilized resource in so many ways.  What I disagree with is conflating with “outsourcing” with patient-engagement.    I feel that the definition of patient engagement I share with most clinicians carries with it a kind of moral authority to do what’s right for the patient.   VanNorman’s attempts to cloak “physician workload outsourcing” as patient engagement feels manipulative, self-serving and  destined to disengage patients instead.

Furthermore I fundamentally disagree with anyone trying to force patients to do anything without the benefit of first:

  • Explaining to patients what you want them to do
  • Why you are asking patients to do something
  • Asking for their feedback on what you want them to do
  • Teaching patients how to do what it is you are asking them to do
  • Providing ongoing support to patients regarding what you asked them to do

The Takeaway?

Maybe one of the real reasons patient engagement is so hard is that some of us are approaching it from a patient-centered perspective…while others are approaching it from VanNorman’s beauracrat-directed perspective.

This in turn translates into different motives, messages to patients, different measures of patient engagement and so on.

This may also explain why some of my peers in HIMMS and NeHC get so mad at me when I say that patient engagement is a physician-patient communication challenge and not an HIT challenge.

That’s my opinion…what’s yours? 

TAGGED:collaborative decision makingdoctor-patient relationshipempowered patientsHealth Information Technologypatient engagementpatient-centered carepatient-centered medical homephysician-patient communicationSelf careshared decision-making
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Visions of Care

August 20, 2014
Image
Hospital Administration

High Quality, Low Cost HealthCare Video Interview Series: Lou Caputo Talks Hand Hygiene Data Tracking

April 30, 2013
CARF accreditation
BusinessHospital Administration

The Benefits and Value of CARF Accreditation

May 24, 2014
ICD-10
BusinessHospital AdministrationMedical Records

Top 10 ICD-10 Codes You Won’t Believe Are Real

July 30, 2014
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?