Engaging Patients to Improve Health Care Outcomes

Dr. Suzanne Mitchell says care needs to be personalized, because "one size doesn't fit all."
Dr. Suzanne Mitchell says care needs to be personalized, because “one size doesn’t fit all.”

How can engaged patients improve health care?

BUSM’s Suzanne Mitchell, MD, and other expert panelists tackled the question during a recent TEDMED#GreatChallenges discussion, “Examining the Case for Patient Activation Measures.

Research indicates clinical sites using the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) — a tool developed by researchers at the University of Oregon to measure patients’ knowledge, skills and confidence for managing their health — save between $260 and $3,700 per patient annually. The benefits of patient engagement extend far beyond the scope of revenue reports by promoting better communication between patients and providers.

“We’re trying to figure out how to personalize people’s care, because one size doesn’t fit all,” said Dr. Mitchell, bringing valuable insight from the clinical perspective to the discussion. “I think we can see the PAM used as a way of personalizing care, as a way of informing patients where they’re at and what they need. It could also be used as an assessment of whether a particular intervention has worked successfully to increase a person’s level of or their ability to engage in managing their own health care.”

Sustainable patient engagement is increasingly important to health care providers and administrators. To read more about the current discussion, visit George Washington University’s School of Public Health blog.